"De 7 Zielen van Antwerpen" joins the MAS permanent exhibition

We are pleased to announce that the artwork "De 7 Zielen van Antwerpen" (The 7 Souls of Antwerp) by David Katshiunga was created at the request of the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp and has been acquired to be integrated into the permanent exhibition Vracht, within the dock Antwerpen Koloniale Haven, a space dedicated to colonial memory and its legacy.

This artwork pays tribute to the seven Congolese men who were brought to Antwerp in 1894 for the World Exhibition (Wereldtentoonstelling). They were exhibited in what was then called a mensentuin a human zoo forced to reenact their daily Congolese lives for the gaze of a European audience.

Unprepared for the cold climate, they fell ill. Seven of them died in Antwerp.

For a long time, they were not commemorated. Their deaths resulted in no monument, no grave, no place in the city’s collective memory.

The integration of this artwork into the MAS’s permanent exhibition, within Vracht, therefore represents a crucial step in breaking this silence and making visible lives that remained in the shadows for far too long.

The artwork was created on a panel of wengé, a wood originating from Congo, dark and dense, traditionally associated in Central Africa with memory, protection, and the connection to ancestors.This wood carries the artwork, both literally and symbolically. The faces are intentionally blurred, not fully defined: they evoke the way these men were long present, yet unseen.

It is an honor for David Katshiunga to contribute to the transmission of this history through his artistic work, particularly as an artist of Congolese origin. His practice is part of a profound reflection on the relationship between Congo and Belgium, and on a colonial past

that is still too rarely told to younger generations.

It is within this same approach that he created the exhibition Authenticité, inspired by ten striking passages from the book Dochter van dekolonisatie by political Nadia Nsayi, which explores the Belgian-Congolese relationship through lived and contemporary experience.

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“By illustrating these passages, I wanted to open a more accessible discussion about our shared past, particularly with my nephews, despite the generational gap.” — David Katshiunga

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De 7 Zielen van Antwerpen (The 7 Souls of Antwerp) thus forms part of the continuity of this exhibition, with the hope that the artwork may, in turn, travel and reach an ever wider audience.

The acquisition of this artwork by the MAS represents an important moment — not only for David Katshiunga’s artistic trajectory, but above all for the visibility given to this history and to these lives.

We warmly thank the museum teams for their trust and commitment, as well as all those — collectors, partners, and friends — who support David Katshiunga’s work and help ensure that these narratives find their place.

This artwork is for them.

But also for us.

For the way we look, remember, and pass on.

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