Two Sides of the Same Coin: a fragmented history comes together

In the exhibition Two Sides of the Same Coin, Congolese art collective Cercle d'Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) brings two sides of one story into dialogue. On one side are Western art museums, such as the Van Abbemuseum. On the other side we find plantation workers like the Congolese Collective, whose ancestors' work made financing such institutions possible. The opening of the exhibition in the Van Abbemuseum brings together fragmented histories: a converstation between CATPC, descendants of plantation workers, and Dominique Thibaux, second cousin of a Belgian colonial administrator.

Resistance killing

‘In 1931, during Belgium's colonial rule in Congo, women were raped in Lusanga. It was a recruitment method for forced labour on the Unilever plantations,’ says C'edart Tamasala of CATPC. The community subsequently rebelled. To quell the unrest on the plantation, the regime sent colonial administrator Maximilien Balot. The latter did not realise that a dangerous situation awaited him. Upon his arrival, he was killed and dismembered. During the reprisals that followed, thousands of Congolese were imprisoned, tortured and murdered. Tamasala: ‘As part of the resistance, the community made a wooden sculpture of Balot to subdue his evil spirit.’

Adventure saga

‘Until I was 70, I knew very little about my great-uncle Max,’ Dominique Thibaux, great-niece of director Balot explains. 'Like an adventure saga, his story floated around in our family. I was about seven years old when I first heard about his gruesome death during a peacekeeping mission in faraway Africa. As a child, to me, it sounded like an exotic comic strip, Tintin au Congo.’ In 2020, Thibaux learns more by chance during a visit to the Risquons-Tout exhibition at Wiels, a centre for contemporary art in Brussels. African sculptures depict the rape of Congolese women by Europeans. On the caption, she reads about her great uncle Maximilien.

Letter from Balot

Following the museum visit, Thibaux starts looking into her family history. In a photo album, she finds a letter from Balot, addressed to his stepmother-in-law. He describes what life was like for him and his wife Maria Thibaux in Congo: ‘We are alone here amid 120,000m2 of plains and forests. There are only black people and black people.' He also describes what his work entails: ‘Every month I travel 300 kilometres by train to search for undesirables, collect taxes and do a census.’ The letter is dated 6 February 1931, three months before his death.

Concealed past

‘It took me a long time to understand that Balot's work was a preparation for the forced recruitment of the local community by his colleagues,’ Thibaux says. Balot must have known about the cruel conditions, shown in a letter his wife Maria wrote after his death: ‘The Congolese killed my husband in the most horrible way. But despite everything, I understand their revolt. The directors of private companies exploited and abused black people.' Within the family after this, there was always silence about the past. Through Renzo Martens, who has a long-standing association with CATPC, Thibaux sought contact with its members.

Humanising the enemy

The CATPC members' parents and grandparents worked under duress from the Belgian rulers on the plantations where Thibaux's great-uncle was murdered almost a century ago. At the opening of the exhibition Two Sides of the Same Coin, they meet for the first time in real life. Together, they place a letter from 1931 written by Balot in a display case next to his sculpture. René Ngongo, biologist, activist and director of CATPC: ‘Reading the letter humanises the enemy of the past. But we cannot hold on to past resentments and pain. It's time to look at how we can shape our future together.’

Sharing of privileges

Despite the desire to work together for a better future, it feels wry for CATPC to be present at the opening in Eindhoven. Matthieu Kasiama: ‘It is painful for us that we have this privilege while many other plantation workers do not know this privilege.’ He refers to the workers on the plantations in Medan in Sumatra, Indonesia. The forced labour of their ancestors partly funded the establishment of the Van Abbemuseum. Kasiama: ‘We visited them to ask permission for our exhibition here. They gave us their blessing. With the $20 they earn a month in Congo and $160 in Sumatra, it is not possible to be in Eindhoven. So we are also here on their behalf, on behalf of all plantation workers worldwide. We are them’

Two Sides of the Same Coin will be on display at the Van Abbemuseum from 21 December 2024 to 3 March 2025.