Robert Nzaou-Kissolo is a Congolese photographer who lives between the cities of Cape Town in South Africa and Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo. He has been documenting daily life on the streets of Pointe Noire since early 2014 as an ongoing project in a variety of themes.
All photos are candid and shot from the hip. The ‘Salon de Coiffure’ theme explores the beauty of the Congolese people contrasted with what they themselves perceive as beauty.
There is a hair salon to be found every 100 metres in the suburbs of Pointe Noire and the hand painted boards advertising their services often represent images with a cultural ideal of beauty which is not in fact what the people themselves look like. Fake hair and light skin dominates the boards and no traditional clothes are represented, yet when one goes to the streets, one finds people with a deep natural beauty, wearing traditional clothes and with a unique style and fashion sense.
4 comments
Edward valeau
February 13, 2015 at 11:11 amI like the contrast drawn between fantasy and reality. It is a universal concept that I gave seen throughout all cultures of color from Africa to the Phillipines.
Your images are revealing, with expressions of lived experiences.
Ed Valeau
Renaldo Creative
February 20, 2015 at 1:14 pmBeautiful images and nice story.
kuaför ilan
May 23, 2015 at 2:20 pmNice sharing, thank you!
Paolo Messeca
June 3, 2015 at 12:45 pmI liked very much your representation of this modern mural African Art . I spent my self many years in Mozambique and the last seven months I was in Maputo where I took many pictures of this kind of modern art.
Thanks for sharing your pictures.
Paolo Messeca