British artist chosen to ‘reinterpret’ controversial statue of Belgium’s King Leopold II

Leopold’s regime lasted from 1885 to 1908 before, under huge international pressure, the government took the region out of royal hands and renamed it the Belgian Congo, which gained independence in 1960. Mr Locke was conscious of the risk of “triggering” members of Belgium’s Congolese community by being too explicit in his depiction of Leopold’s horrific crimes. ‘Denying atrocities’ Asked whether his approach was an alternative to tearing down statues of problematic figures, he said each statue had to be approached on a case-by-case basis. “It’s not physically jumping up and down on people’s bones, but it’s metaphorically jumping up and down on people’s bones.” Mr Locke has temporarily modified British imperial statues, such as one of Queen Victoria in Birmingham. “This artwork is not the final product of an extensive participation project on colonial traces, but the beginning of the dialogue that we must continue regarding how we handle colonial references in our public space,” said Ostend alderman Silke Beirens.