Sammy Baloji (b. 1978, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo), lives and works in Brussels, Belgium and Lubumbashi. He holds a degree in literature and social sciences. Baloji worked as a draftsman when he undertook a formal training in photography under the direction of Simon Mukunday and Marie-Françoise Plissart. Since 2005, Baloji has been exploring the memory and history of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In his work, Sammy Baloji searches for the cultural, architectural and industrial heritage of the Katanga region, questioning the effects of Belgian colonization. The use of photographic archive images allows him to manipulate time and space, to compare ancient colonial narratives with contemporary economic imperialisms. Baloji participated in the African Photography Meetings in Bamako in 2007, the Lyon Biennial in 2015, the Venice Biennial in 2015, the Photoquai Festival in the Quai-Branly Museum in 2015, the Dakar Biennale in 2016 and the XIVth edition. of Documenta in 2017. His works have been exhibited at the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, at the Kunstmuseum aan zee in Oostende, at Tate Modern in London, at Africa Center in New York and at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art at Washington DC. He has received several awards, including from the Prince Claus Foundation in the Netherlands, the African Photography Meetings in Bamako and the Dakar Biennale. He won the Rolex Mentor and Protected Arts Initiative Award in 2014. Sammy Baloji is the co-founder of Rencontres Picha, a photography and video biennial in Lubumbashi.