This article by Donatien Dibwe dia Mwembu, Bram Cleys, and Els De Palmenaer examines the case of the impressive and colourful nkishi (power statue) of a Congolese chief in the MAS in Antwerp.
Acquired by a Belgian merchant in 1923, the nkishi arrived in Antwerp in 1939.
The authors studied the archives in Antwerp and interviewed members of the Indanga community from Mkolomonyi’s village, thus reconstructing the collective memory surrounding an object like this.
The authors note big gaps between what the different sources have told them.
