Tucked away on the back streets and alleys of Kinshasa lies a thriving market of vendors selling anything and everything you might need to keep a car running. Wander this warren and you'll find pistons, camshafts, brake rotors and more stacked in tidy piles or laid out in rows. "It was surreal," says Jean-Sylvain Tshilumba Mukendi. "You would see spare parts very neatly organized, from tiny screws to radiators, you name it, all spread out in little stalls."
Mukendi and Maxence Dedry spent two weeks exploring the market in the city's N'Djili district for Les Mitrailleurs. The two photographers first learned of the sprawling market while visiting the city, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in January. As many as 300 vendors sell parts of every description, most of them salvaged from Japanese cars imported for spare parts and scrap.
The photographers spent a week getting to know people, and another week making pictures. Vendors don't make many sales, and pass the time playing checkers, smoking, and drinking---often tangawisi, a local concoction made with ginger. It's not an easy way to make money, but it offers a glimmer of promise to men with slim prospects. “They keep on dreaming and fantasizing about the Western world, in which they’ve got super nice cars,” says Mukendi. And no need for parts to keep them running.
