In 2011, Pongo travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to photograph the country's general election and its impact on society. He soon became aware that, as a European educated photographer he could neither define which stories mattered nor were they his to tell. As his awareness of this increased, he came to terms with the limits of photography to show 'the truth' as well as his own limitations in accessing and understanding the environment, bias, and stereotypes. The project evolved into the photographs which form his first book The Uncanny. The Uncanny was the winner of the ICP GOST First Photobook Award 2020.