Exposing Shadows
Installation with 6 grey cardboard binders and two publications

Researching the possibilities and the limits of the archive, I try to reveal the figure of my ancestor, to haunt my own identity. By positioning myself in the role of an archivist different questions appeared on the conception of history by the action of the archive, the Belgian colonial past, and the forces implied in the archive and on personal and national identity. My research brought me to face Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude’s shadow altered by time and space.

Exposing Shadows Vol. I
27 x 18 cm, 370 p., different papers
Exposing Shadows Vol. I explores the different possibilities of the book form to hide and show the past and its complexities. By analysing the difficulties I encountered to meet and give form to the life of my ancestor Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude, I interrogate its evolution through history and his reflection today.


Exposing Shadows Vol. II
27 x 18 cm, 102 p.
This second volume follows my journey during my one-year research which led me to the first volume of Exposing Shadows. The book takes form in three parts: photography, history and archive. Looking back at the different paths that I followed while investigating the archive material, I present my leading inspirations and different experimentations which occured during the creation of my personal archive and how unsuccesful results this last one led to.

Exposing Shadows Vol. II (publication)