{"id":16869,"date":"2016-11-17T09:01:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T14:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.sites.unc.edu\/?p=16869"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:29:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:29:48","slug":"congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=16869","title":{"rendered":"Colors of colonial Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_16870\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16870\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-16870\" src=\"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/07\/Carlee-and-statue_edited-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Carlee Forbes (photo courtesy of Carlee Forbes)\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16870\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carlee Forbes (photo courtesy of Carlee Forbes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>&#8220;They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force \u2014 nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.\u201d \u2013 Joseph Conrad, \u201cHeart of\u00a0Darkness\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When he was granted the Congo Free State through the 1885 Berlin Conference, King Leopold <span class=\"caps\">II<\/span> made history as the first individual to control a new colony. His reign resulted in two decades of bloody violence before public pressure forced Leopold to step aside, and the Congo was annexed as a colony of\u00a0Belgium.<\/p>\n<p>History books and popular literature often depict this era as one of the great travesties of humanity \u2014 yet another time when Europeans seized control of an indigenous population and seemingly destroyed their way of life. Books like <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heart_of_Darkness\">\u201cHeart of Darkness\u201d by Joseph Conrad<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/King_Leopold%27s_Ghost\">\u201cKing Leopold\u2019s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa\u201d by Adam Hochschild<\/a> reflect the themes of abuse and\u00a0hopelessness.<\/p>\n<p>But Carlee Forbes, a PhD candidate in the Department of Art, says this narrative is too simple. By examining art produced during this period, she argues the Congolese people weren\u2019t as passive and weak as popular literature portrays \u2014 it was more complicated. \u201cThere were artists living at the time, taking commissions and making their art,\u201d Forbes says. \u201cSome of them resisted Colonial rule, others collaborated with it, and many were just trying to get by. But they were all there, and they were all experiencing it and reacting to it in some\u00a0way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Through case studies of Congolese art in various mediums, she hopes to add more complete information to the narrative of this turbulent time in the Congo\u2019s\u00a0history.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Power and prestige\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As Belgium sought to assert its control, it was not unheard of for government officials to appoint new chiefs in Congolese villages. This new chief was typically someone who became familiar to the Belgians either through trade or as a guide and offered a convenient way for them to have control, according to\u00a0Forbes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone who was once a nobody, like a trader, just happens to rise to power because he has a connection to the Belgian imperialists \u2026 how do you demonstrate that?\u201d Forbes asks. She points to images on a raffia mat. \u201cSomething like this comes out of that\u00a0interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a long history, going back to at least the 15<sup>th<\/sup> century, of using raffia mats as a status marker,\u201d Forbes says. \u201cWhen a new leader came to power, one thing that he could do to try to legitimize his authority was to draw upon this long-standing practice of displaying raffia. Because the Belgians were appointing people who may not have come from a long lineage of chiefs, these individuals had to do things to assert their authority. Raffia was one way of doing this.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16871\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16871\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16871\" src=\"https:\/\/casdev.unc.edu\/collegearchive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2016\/11\/rafi-mat-600x421.jpg\" alt=\"Since the 15th Century, the Congolese have created and displayed raffia mats as symbols of status. The leopard on this mat represents the ability to move between both the human and spiritual realms \u2014 a sign of power, according to the people of the Congo. (photo courtesy of Carlee Forbes)\" width=\"600\" height=\"421\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16871\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Since the 15th Century, the Congolese have created and displayed raffia mats as symbols of status. The leopard on this mat represents the ability to move between both the human and spiritual realms \u2014 a sign of power, according to the people of the Congo. (photo courtesy of Carlee Forbes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Whereas the display of raffia has a long history, the use of figurative motifs (rather than geometric abstract patterns) on the mats is an innovation of from the late 19<sup>th<\/sup> and early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century. This mat shows a leopard and some\u00a0bottles.<\/p>\n<p>Regalia with leopard claws or skin represented status. \u201cThere was a long-standing believe that the leopard could move between spiritual realms and realms of the living,\u201d Forbes says. Adorning himself in leopard regalia allowed the chief to show he had the affirmations of the spirits. \u201cHaving an animal that encompasses all of that on a raffia mat was just another way to show status, and show that this leader knows how to connect to this culture.\u201d Images of bottles are prevalent from this time period as well. Forbes talks about \u201cwonderful\u201d photographs of chiefs surrounded by trade bottles, like gin, which was a sign of contact with Europeans. It was their way of saying <em>I am wealthy, I am powerful, and I\u2019m a leader<\/em>, according to\u00a0Forbes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summer at the\u00a0museum <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.africamuseum.be\/home\">Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium<\/a>, has the largest collection of Congolese art in the world. Forbes spent six weeks this past summer working and conducting research there. Since the museum is undergoing a major renovation, Forbes assisted with the redesign of exhibits, which included editing text and citations.<\/p>\n<p>The museum focuses on aspects of historical Congo, including many examples of classical art forms, but it also shows connections and similarities that Congo has with the rest of the world. For example, there are state schools in the Congo that are similar to European state schools. \u201cThey have uniforms and books, but there are problems, too,\u201d Forbes says. \u201cI think they show that dichotomy quite\u00a0nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Direct access to one of the best museums in the world certainly has its perks. \u201cThere were a few days I was able to go into cabinets and look at objects for my dissertation,\u201d Forbes says. \u201cOne cabinet of artifacts was directly related to my dissertation so I just spent all day taking them out, examining them, and photographing\u00a0them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The extent of European influence\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou thought yourself bewitched and cut off forever from everything you had known once \u2014 somewhere \u2014 far away in another existence\u00a0perhaps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Joseph Conrad, <em>Heart of Darkness\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Despite being roughly 4,000 miles from Europe, to say that colonial Congo was completely cut off from the rest of the world is not accurate. In contrast to the imagery presented by Joseph Conrad, a Congolese artist by the name of Paul Mapinda produced watercolor paintings that replicate images from European fashion\u00a0magazines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the hats down to the shoes, he clearly knows the style of the day,\u201d Forbes says. \u201cWhat does it mean that he\u2019s living in the Congo but fully informed about European culture? \u00a0What was he doing? I want to figure that out.<strong>\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16872\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16872\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16872\" src=\"https:\/\/casdev.unc.edu\/collegearchive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2016\/11\/Congolese-art-600x399.jpg\" alt=\"The influence of European culture is evident in some of the artwork from the Congo. This watercolor painting produced by Paul Mapinda replicates images from European fashion magazines. (photo courtesy of Carlee Forbes)\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16872\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The influence of European culture is evident in some of the artwork from the Congo. This watercolor painting produced by Paul Mapinda replicates images from European fashion magazines. (photo courtesy of Carlee Forbes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"content clearfix\">\n<p>For another set of watercolors, Forbes tells the story of a Belgium administrator who discovered two artists in the Congo \u2014 one was an ivory carver and the other a muralist. But the administrator was not interested in ivory pieces or a mural \u2014 he wanted watercolor paintings to send back to Belgium. The artists accepted his commission, willing to adapt what they already knew to fit a new medium. \u201cIt\u2019s an interesting morphing of mediums and technique,\u201d Forbes says. \u201cBut I think that it\u2019s also an interesting expression of them creating things they thought he would want to\u00a0see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is still a lot of work to be done to confirm who these artists were, who commissioned these pieces, and how these objects might have come into museum collections, but they offer valuable insight into the lives of these artists, according to\u00a0Forbes.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of Mapinda illustrating the European fashions of the day, Forbes asks: \u201cHow was he interacting with these Belgians who were coming in and prescribing a new style for him? This is such a poignant example of showing he was aware of what was happening around\u00a0him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u00a0remains<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Forbes is applying for research grants to go to Congo for an extended period of time \u2014 nine months to a year. While much of colonial Congolese art resides in museum collections in Belgium, Forbes says there may still be pieces to explore in Africa. \u201cIt\u2019s rather disorganized in terms of where things are and how well they\u2019re preserved and whether or not there <em>is<\/em> anything left there.\u201d But, she knows of several collections that have some colonial-era objects, and she wants to go there, examine these examples, and try to find artifacts that haven\u2019t been discussed in past\u00a0scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>One large part of the narrative that Forbes has not yet explored in her research is art from several Catholic and Protestant missions that hosted initiatives to interact with local people through creative projects. \u201cThey would weave textiles, or stitch embroidery, or make ceramic pots to be sold,\u201d Forbes says. Were these art projects designed to economically support the mission?\u00a0 Or were they an easy way to connect and provide useful work for the people who were being evangelized? Forbes doesn\u2019t have answers to those questions yet, but she says many old mission stations still have small collections of pieces that were made there. \u201cI think that\u2019s a really rich story that has very little scholarship,\u201d she says. \u201cHow were the missions involved in the\u00a0arts?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Forbes has been in contact with several former missionaries who worked in Congo during the 1960s. Some of these missions have archives, and one in particular has a very well preserved archive that the local community is determined to keep in Africa \u2014 not send to Belgium, according to\u00a0Forbes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Collective memory and a new\u00a0narrative <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When Forbes discusses her research, she talks a lot about collective memory. In the 1980s, some art history scholars argued that because these pieces of Congolese artwork were sent directly to Belgium, the Congolese forgot about them. \u201cAfter decades in storage, these works were \u2018rediscovered\u2019 in the 1980s,\u201d Forbes says. \u201cSo there\u2019s an argument that they don\u2019t have a legacy in Congo because no one remembers them.\u201d But some contemporary Congolese artists look back at these pieces and consider them part of their heritage, according to\u00a0Forbes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA big question that the Congo \u2014 and Belgium, too \u2014 is trying to work through is how does colonial memory persist today?\u201d Forbes says. \u201cWhat are its effects? How do we work with that\u00a0memory?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it mean to put these objects on display in a museum? What story is displayed with them? What context is given?\u201d Forbes asks. \u201cHow does the general public react to\u00a0them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s working through the trauma or working through the problems its created and its legacies, Forbes wants to better understand it to move the dialogue\u00a0forward.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>I\u2019m not saying that colonialism in the Congo wasn\u2019t as bad as everyone says it was,\u201d she says. \u201cBut Congolese people weren\u2019t just passive sufferers. I\u2019m trying to show that it wasn\u2019t that\u00a0simple.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Carlee Forbes is a PhD candidate in the Art History Program in the Department of Art in the <span class=\"caps\">UNC<\/span> College of Arts <span class=\"amp\">and<\/span> Sciences.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Story by Mary Lide Parker, <a href=\"http:\/\/endeavors.unc.edu\/colors_of_colonial_congo\/\">Endeavors magazine<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belgium\u2019s control of the Congo in the early 20th century had a profound impact on native artists \u2014 and Carlee Forbes, a UNC art history researcher looking for clues to better understand how and why.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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