Le chant des Walés (2016)

• 81%
• 2016
• Florent de La Tullaye

In the middle of the Rainforest, covered in red pigment from head to toe and sporting shiny copper anklets, three sisters, Walé Bakuku, Walé Besawu and Walé M'Po, attract much attention especially given how starkly they contrast with the lush green vegetation around them. Pygmies from the Ekonda tribe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they're continuing a ritual instituted by their ancestors. Following the birth of their first child, some young pygmy mothers - dubbed "Walés" - live with their babies in isolation for months, or even years, a longstanding tradition that aims to protect them and their babies as the heirs of their families. With their new status as Walés, the new moms are not allowed to perform any laborious chores, whether working in the fields or cooking. Instead they are served, much like dignitaries, by former Walés tasked with feeding them and passing on their knowledge. They monitor them every move and make sure that they follow the rules - such as the prohibition of all sexual relations - set out for her. At the end of the seclusion, they have to create melodies and dances to perform during an amazing spectacle in front of the entire community, commemorating their experience as Walés. During many years, to unravel the mystery of this rite of passage, Patrick Willocq, a French photographer who grew up in Congo DRC, proposed to some Walés to participate in staged photographs. Each set-up worked as a visual of the subject that the Walé would sing about on the day of her release from seclusion.