Kijkjes in Belgisch Kongo - Antwerp, Drukkerij Buschmann, not dated (circa 1920) - 4 pp. + 48 pages with photos (by Dr. Maes) - Softcover - 21.50 x 28.50 cm.
Belgium’s brutal colonisation of the Congo, its subsequent relationship with the country, and its often problematic representation of it in images, is given a whole chapter. “Many of the photobooks published since the 50th anniversary of [Congo’s] independence in 2010 oscillate between a more or less overt nostalgia, Afro-pessimism and an aesthetic of ruins,” states the curator Tamara Berghmans. “Most are still the result of a white, male gaze.”
