Caoutchouc

[Ivo_B]

earlier today I went through all the images posted so far. I think it’s very interesting. I find a series of images with a narrative much more rewarding to go through than individual images. Also more challenging to shoot. I hope to see more and watch this project develop.

Thanks Martin,

Actually I’m doing research and setting up a travel schedule. Next stop is the Belgian Africa Museum in Tervuren in Brussels, then the Belgian coast, some homes of ex colonials etc.
And I plan to meet peoples from the DRC who live in Belgium.
Very exciting.

[RSL]

Looks like fun, Ivo. Good luck with it.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... You're a breath of fresh air...

Indeed:

[KLaban]

Did someone fart?

[Rob C]

Did someone fart?

Perhaps hospital food?

:-)

[KLaban]

Perhaps hospital food?

:-)

 

[Ivo_B]

#1 August Lambertmon, co-founder of the AIA: association International Africain. (Co founder, together with Leopold 2)
#2 Missionary De Deken, after he returned from Nepal, he went to Kongo to christianize the natives. I wonder if he saw himself as he is cast in brons, heroically putting his knee on an inlander. This statue says more about the opinion in Belgium in that era than it says something about the man
#3 Baron Francis Dhanis, Started the Ivory war in east Kongo against the Zanzibari Swahili. Thanks to this victory,  Antwerp became ivory port N°1 in the world. Later Dhanis became a rubber baron.
#4 View on the entrepôt du Congo, a pack-house to store al the stolen traded ivory.

(At this stage, I’m not sure in what direction the series will evolve.. Colour, B&W, pure registration, or a more interpretive way of photographing,....)

[Martin Kristiansen]

Nice Ivo.

It takes a while to find the direction and explore all the options. For my money I prefer colour but it’s your project and you will have the vision.

Any way we’ll done. It’s very interesting.

[RSL]

Good stuff. You're in a work area you understand, Ivo. Keep it up.

[Ivo_B]

‘La Cinquantenaire’ was a megalomaniac project of our second King Leopold II. Built with money from the free state congo it should be a commemorative for the 50st anniversary of the Belgian independence.
It hosts 3 museums. One of them is the museum of War.
On the top level of the arches men can find a room with a seldom collection of Napoleontic artifacts. You need to climb a spiral staircase to get there. On two intermediate landings the history of the building and inauguration of the parc is showcased. A statue of the contested king is still in place, but lights are dimmed.
Our colonial past is not digested.

[Ivo_B]

Same museum
1: King Leopold 2 and his soldiers.
2: A flag of the garde civique of the free state,  in state of dissolution but still showcased.
3: A commemorative for an officer who won battles in the war for,... well the spoils of war are clear.
4: not sure what to think

[Martin Kristiansen]

more than just interesting for me.

[Ivo_B]

more than just interesting for me.

Well, initially I thought the Free State period was the darkest of the colonial past. It isn’t.
...

Pamflet of another epoch.

[Ivo_B]

Culinair artifacts.

[Ivo_B]

Costume taken from a revolting Arabian chef by Captain Rom and donated by his widow.