FILM

In the Citadelpark in Ghent there’s a sculpture honouring the brothers Lieven en Jozef van de Velde, both colonial pioneers. Their relief portrait plaque is mounted on a rock. On top of that rock sits the statue of a boy, Sakala, in 1884 the first Congolese visiting Belgium. Where in reality, he immediately learned French and wore western clothing, he is being depicted nude. With this study of a forgotten sculpture Halsberghe deconstructs the filmic illusion and critically analyzes the western gaze.