13-Stop-over in Namur

I am going to continue here with some of our trip on the inland waterways. From June till September 2014 we travelled from Brussels to France and back again via Liege and Antwerp. Everyday brought something new. Below we sat in awe watching the World championship of paddle-boarding. My arms were aching for them.

slacklining over the river Meuse

We were moored below the river Meuse below the Citadel.

Getting a tow

And of course Roger had to turn my world upside down as usual…

I have chosen to bring you on some of my adventures. Not all of life is serious, painful and gloomy.

I wasn’t doing a lot of painting that time but I was filling up my subconscious with lot of potential material.

I was recently very surprised to see that a giant bronze statue of a turtle representing ‘the search for Utopia’ by the famous Belgian artist Jan Fabre sitting on the turtle’s back had been the subject of the MeToo movement.

I saw this six ton statue way back in 2015 in Nieuport on the Belgian coast where it was for ten years. The Rops-Fabre exhibition in 2015 saw it moved to a high position above the city of Namur.

Today the statue is the subject of great controversy given the fact that Jan Fabre has been given an 18 month suspended sentence for various acts of sexual indiscretion, etc., I’m not quite sure of the full story as I have only read a couple of press releases.

This is very interesting as it makes me wonder, as artists, what our real responsibility is to society. By putting our art out into the world are we making a statement about our personal values or are we just creating an image of a very specific moment in time or are we trying to influence the world with our ideas? Is everything we do measured? Are we not all responsible for what we do? Are we allowed to be forgiven if we make a mistake.? Should society decide? Where do we draw the line on what is and what is not an offence? Yes, it’s all so much to think about on a daily basis. I took the photo below in 2014 knowing nothing about the creator/artist or the subject, it was a simply an amusing piece of art to stumble upon on the beach. Today it has taken on a whole new meaning for me.

.