Six sculptures echo the shape of doors, opening onto Hell and reminding us of the torture inflicted in the colonies. These allegorical works also conjure up the image of Adam and Eve being cast out of paradise, as in Masaccio’s fresco at the Brancacci Chapel in Florence.
Sculptures of severed and burnt hands are amassed, bearing witness to a sheer quantity of human suffering and loss of life while two spherical sculptures in charred wood bring torment and abstraction together. Each of these pieces function as a testament of history. The work offers a form of humanity where we can contemplate our own terror.
As the artist himself said: “When I am invited to a country, in this case Belgium, I examine what I can possibly create and, while roaming through the nation’s history and past, I stumble upon something that haunts me. I came across images of hands being severed as punishment in the Belgian Congo. I began thinking about Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The torture scene in Pasolini’s Mamma Roma also came to mind, which then led me to Mantegna’s paintings. Being confronted with such images is like opening the door to a nightmare; as I see it, these visions haunt the coun- try, they haunt me and now also collectively haunt us.”