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White shadows

The starting point of White Shadows by Winne Lievens were her grandmother’s memories of the Belgian Congo. At the age of 19, she moved to Congo to work as a teacher, and ended up meeting her husband and raising their five children there. When Congo became too unsafe, the family returned to Belgium.
But the nostalgia for Africa remained great. Winne’s grandmother described her time in Congo as the most beautiful time of her life. As a child, Winne Lievens used to be fascinated by her grandmother’s TV room, where countless objects and photographs kept the memory of Congo alive. It was in this TV room that Winne first came into contact with this distant and exotic past. Now, as an adult, she considers this past from a different perspective, one in which also the social vision of a colonial past has its place.
In White Shadows both that naive, childlike gaze and the adult, informed gaze are represented. This book was created for the occasion of the exhibition with the same title in Arrière-pensée, Ghent.

Photographer(s): Text:
Winne Lievens (plus archive of grandmother) Tim Vanheers, translation by Tine De Meyer
Format: Pages:
15 x 20 cm 25
Design: Images:
Cedric Verhelst & Winne Lievens 40
Publisher: Binding:
Arrière-pensée & Winne Lievens Perfect bound
Printer: Printing:
Graphius, Ghent Digital print
Date: Edition:
January 2019 100
Place:
Ghent