2014
Photograph
Original book cover
26,9 x 19,9 cm each

A Study of Light and Darkness was a performance that involved burying the novella Heart of Darkness (1899) by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), page by page into the daffodil beds at the City Park of Antwerp, Belgium, on one afternoon in March, 2014. The performance was a reflection on literary studies of post-colonialism and the relationship between Belgium and its colony of the past, Congo. Tangible deconstruction of a piece of literature holding such monumental position in our Western cultural heritage as one of Conrad’s, (“The best books ever written”, states the Penguin Classics series back cover) was a gesture of deconstructing intangible aspect the novella represents: canonisation of certain narratives over others, a form of imperialism itself.