Leopold’s Legacy – Edition

Oliver Leu

Weight	240 g
Dimensions	180 × 130 mm
printrun	open edition, signed
binding	analogue baryta contact print (60 x 60 mm)
printing	mounted on grey cardboard
Format	180 x 130 mm
year	2016
Edition No.	Cinquantenaire, Brussels, Elephant, Tervuren, Ivory Bust, Tervuren, Leopold, Brussels, Moorke, Ghent, set

Weight: 240g

Edition No.	Choose an optionCinquantenaire, BrusselsElephant, TervurenIvory Bust, TervurenLeopold, BrusselsMoorke, GhentsetClear

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Leopold’s Legacy by Oliver Leu deals with the forms of representation of the colonial history in Belgium. In his speech from the throne in 1865 king Leopold II dreamed of a Belgium that would be bigger, stronger and more beautiful one day. When he became the private owner of the Congo in 1885 his dream started to become true. It ended when the Congo atrocities became known and the king had to hand his colony over to the belgium state in 1908.
In his project Oliver Leu is looking at the different aspects of the representation of the colonial past that are visible in monuments, buildings and citiescapes. He is also drawn to the hidden parts of this history. The artist questions how monuments change their meaning when we look at them today and how the perception of Leopold‘s role as a glorious king has altered in the last 100 years or more.