Civilization is a miniature equestrian sculpture referencing the numerous public monuments of King Leopold II that still populate Belgium’s urban landscape. The work depicts a white rider on horseback, rendered in glossy white 3D-printed material that evokes a sterile, museum-like purity. The surface of the pedestal is filled with a deep red resin layer, symbolizing the bloodshed caused by the colonial regime of the Congo Free State (1885–1908).
By reducing the monument to a small, almost toy-like scale, the work undermines the traditional monumentality and heroism typically associated with such statues. The engraved term “Civilization” on the front side highlights the colonial narrative of a “civilizing mission,” confronting the viewer with the dissonance between the official myth and the historical reality of violence, exploitation, and racial domination.
Civilization questions how collective memory is constructed, sanitized, mythologized or erased — and how the aesthetics of monuments contribute to the normalization of historical crimes.