L’Arbre de l’authenticité

In the heart of the equatorial forest in Yangambi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, amid a tangle of jungle and ruins, stands one of the world’s largest former research centres devoted to tropical agriculture — now a living witness to the climate crisis. Its decaying structures bear the weight of the colonial past and reveal its inextricable ties to today’s environmental collapse. In this process of excavation, artist and researcher Sammy Baloji calls upon the voices of two emblematic scientists who once worked at the centre: Paul Panda Farnana, an agricultural engineer and the first Black Congolese civil servant in the Belgian colonial administration, sent there in the early 20th century to oversee latex production; and Abiron Bernaert, a Flemish agronomist responsible for palm oil output during the Second World War. Their scripted testimonies are accompanied by the voice of a majestic, three-hundred-year-old tree — now a national symbol — and together illuminate the enduring legacy of colonial modernity and its ongoing role in the voracious exploitation of natural resources today.
Aurélien Marsais

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