°1958, Antwerp, Lives and works in Antwerp.
For more than thirty-five years Jan Fabre has occupied a leading international position as a ground breaking visual artist, theatre maker and author. Between his most famous works are these mosaic’s series made from blue-green iridescent beetle shields (jewel beetle). What Jan Fabre tells us, based on such iconic images, is the outrageous colonial past of his country.
As always with Fabre, the beetle is the symbolic connotation of metamorphosis: the forced cultural metamorphosis of the Congolese population, but also the painful and at same time courageous metamorphosis towards independence. In addition, the green sparkle beetles (jewel beetle) can also refer to Congo’s plundered wealth, and/or the mysterious green and extensive tropical forests.
Click here to visit the website of Jan Fabre.
Click here to see some of his work.
