12th Sep 2017
Mountains of Kong
Jim Naughten’s latest project takes the viewer back in time to
fabled place, which may or may not have ever existed. Acting
as an explorer, scientist and photographer Naughten has
documented a world that existed in the popular consciousness
for over a hundred years.
The Mountains of Kong could be found on the worlds most
prestigious maps of Africa from 1798 through to the late 1880s
when they were finally declared to be non-existent. Naughten
has created a series of stereoscopic images that tell a very
different story as he imagines a fictitious record made for
posterity and scientific purposes during an expedition to the
mountain range. The resulting images are viewable in three
dimensions by using the same stereoscopic technology made
popular in the late 1800s which allowed Victorians to travel
to the four corners of the world whilst sitting at home in their
armchairs. Naughten presents us with the evidence for the
existence of the mythical kingdom in irrefutable three-
dimensional form.