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Visiting the AfricaMuseum in Brussels - une visite au musée AfricaMuseum de Bruxelles

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Credits Next week, travelling to Brussels, I will visit the AfricaMuseum. Extract from prospectus :  The AfricaMuseum reopened after a thorough renovation.   It now presents a modern, emancipated Africa and does not shy away from a critical eye at a shared colonial past. HISTORY : On 30 April 1910, King Albert I officially opened the Museum of the Belgian Congo , which would become today’s AfricaMuseum . (...)  The history of the AfricanMuseum began with the 1897 International Exhibition of Brussels . At King Leopold II’s initiative and under his supervision, the ‘colonial section’ of the world’s fair was held at the ‘Colonial Palace’ (Africa Palace), in Tervuren. Mounted animals, soil samples, food items, and pieces including objects used either in the daily life or in rituals of different peoples were found alongside artistic works created in Belgium.   ‘Authentic’ African villages were erected in the park. 269 Congolese were requisitioned from their homeland and...
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A palmtree in Nottingham

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Cristina Garcia Rodero - Espana oculta - Festivities, traditions and culture in Spain during 15 years (1974-1989) - Malaga, January 2025

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  Ordinary people in extoardinary situations. Is her work irreverent, profane, desacrating ? As I look at these photographs, I don't know what the situation is. I don't know what the ritual is. I don't know what is part of the ritual and what is not. This makes these images extremly surprising to me. People being hilarious when we would expect them to be serious. Joyfull and fascetious people. Cristina Garcia Rodero was looking for behind-the-scene moments and for behaviors that go against the seriousness of the religious rituals. (photos taken at the exhibition, which explains the light reflections and other distortions)  Article about the origins and meaning of the pointed hoods
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Reading notes from "Postcolonial, Decolonial, Anti-Colonial: Does it Matter? By Lydia Ayame Hiraide"

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  As I am starting a new research, or rather continuing with  The Untouched Collection , I feel the need to clarify certain terms.  Lydia Ayame Hiraide's article brought some light for me, even though, as I understand, polemics are still ongoing when it comes to which word to use.  As I read it, I feel that DECOLONIAL would be the term I would like to use for my work. But as I continue to explore the subject, I may come back to this ... Her work was published in "New Voices in post-colonial studies" "Our use of language is under constant change, and this is perhaps nowhere truer than within the field of Postcolonial Studies (Britton, 1999; Ashcroft, 2002; Ramanathan, 2005). From ‘Third World’ to ‘Global South’, ‘people of colour’ to ‘racialised people’ , there are numerous examples of linguistic shifts, which once introduced, can feel eternal and natural. In this vein, this article will reflect on the extent to which discussions around language are important for resi...
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Woodthorpe Tropical House - Nottingham

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Colonial empires through time

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In 2020-2021, with the project "The Untouched Collection" ,   I was researching a 19 th century collection of travelling books to collect illustrations of African nature and explore issues of de/colonisation. In winter 2021, as I visited Valencia's botanic gardens, it became obvious to me that botanic gardens would be my next research axis.  Today, I wanted to have a better idea of when and how these gardens appeared and as they are directly linked to colonial empires, I wanted to visualise the geographical developement of these empires through time.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_empire#European_colonial_empires
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En sac à dos en Crète - Backpacking in Crete - journal

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(in English underneath-  Translated with DeepL.com ) Dimanche 4 août 2024.   Sunday 4 August 2024. J'ai beaucoup aimé cette phrase d’un internaute donnant des conseils pour faire son sac à dos. C’était quelque chose comme : « les peurs pèsent lourd ».  Effectivement : l’anti-moustique, les gélules d’arnica pour les douleurs, les comprimés préventifs en cas d’infection urinaire … ça pèse quelques centaines de grammes peut-être.  Et puis j’ai peut-être pris un peu trop de shampoing et de crème pour le corps. Mais j’ai enlevé quelques trucs qui pesaient un total de 300 g ! Peurs.  Et si … ? Et si …., ? Et si …. ?   Ma plus grande inquiétude c’est mon corps. J’ai des douleurs en ce moment que je connais bien, liées aux tensions musculaires, elles-mêmes liées au stress … Alors je m’inquiète pour la marche du 2eme jour : la descente des gorges de Samaria. Avec mon sac à dos lourd de toutes mes peurs. Ce voyage es...
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