Before there were borders, before there were nations, there was Tongo Maado — the House of Our Ancestors. For the Kissi people of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, this sacred site has been the centre of spiritual life for centuries. Chiefs were chosen here. Communities sought guidance here. Traditional societies; Pio, Kondo, Vanamamendan, Poro, and Bondo, consulted their ancestors here. It is a place that exists nowhere else on earth.
Tongo Maado is a long-form documentary photography project by James Tamba-Martha — a personal and cultural journey into the heart of Kissi heritage. Born in Kailahun District, Tamba-Martha returns to the land of his ancestors not just as a photographer, but as a son of the community — humbled by what has been preserved, and compelled to ensure it is not forgotten.
Through sustained visual storytelling, the project documents the sacred traditions, spiritual institutions, and living culture of the Kissi people — offering the world a rare and dignified window into one of West Africa’s least documented ancestral traditions.
This is not just a photography project. It is an act of remembrance.
