Sammy Baloji Mines Congo’s Hidden Histories

Sammy Baloji Mines Congo’s Hidden Histories

ATHENS — The history of colonial violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may call to mind the atrocities of rubber extraction under Belgian rule inscribed onto the bodies of Black laborers and their families. The video “Aequare. The Future that Never Was” (2023) by Congolese artist Sammy Baloji is a centerpiece of the artist’s current exhibition, Echoes of History, Shadows of Progress, at the National Museum of Contemporary Art. “Aequ…