Guided tour of the exhibition An infinite woman

In 1925, a photograph of a Mangbetu woman from north-eastern Congo became the viral campaign visual for the Croisière Noire or Black Cruise, a colonial propaganda expedition through Africa sponsored by car manufacturer Citroën. Nine years later, the company began the construction of its flagship store in Brussels, intended to promote both its cars and the ideas behind imperial conquest. The exhibition An infinite woman is divided into two parts: the first looks at the transformation of the Mangbetu woman’s image into a colonial symbol, and the second explores how it became a powerful source of inspiration for many African diaspora artists.