Lumumba in the Arts - book presentation

Lumumba, an emblematic figure forever engraved in collective memory, has inspired innumerable artists all over the world, and even today his ideas are still topical. His ideas and timeless intellectual legacy on all levels (political, economic, social, cultural, identity-related, etc.) still reverberate - both in Belgium and Congo, in Africa as well as in the rest of the world. A new generation is now rediscovering and reinterpreting the power of Lumumba’s message. 

On the 17th of January, fifty nine years after the murder of Lumumba, we commemorate him with the book presentation of Lumumba in the Arts - a publication of Matthias De Groof.

With this book, Matthias De Groof is not attempting to unravel the truth about Lumumba’s murder. Instead, he’s focusing on the representations of Lumumba. It tells the story of every artistic work that was made involving his figure. Film and art experts, historians, philosophers and anthropologists discuss the rich patrimony of images inspired by Lumumba. Besides this, Lumumba in the Arts offers unique testimonies of various artists that contributed to the multiple iconographic works around his figure and life, like Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans, Raoul Peck and Tshibumba Matulu. Scientists such as Johannes Fabian, Bogumil Jewsiewicky and  Elikia M’Bokolo also contributed their bit.

Matthias De Groof introduces his book to you and has invited some speakers to join him. Among them Veerle De Laet (head of the Leuven University Press), Jean Omasombo, Zana Etambala, Julien Truddaïu, Idesbald Goddeeris, Veronique Bragard and Gert Huskens. His book presentation will alternate with a poetry reading by some guests and a Q&A-moment. The book will be for sale on the spot, with a CONGOLISATION-discount. You can find more information here.