Leopold II's monument, erected in 1931, has been a source of controversy for decades. Today, it remains one of the few—and certainly one of the most iconic—monuments honoring the former Belgian king still in public space. The monument has long been intensely contested due to the crimes against humanity committed during Leopold II's reign in the Congo, as well as its manipulative and deceptive iconography.
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Leopold II was depicted as a 'genius protector' and continues to be celebrated by certain groups, despite the unprecedented suffering caused during and after his reign. On the one hand, together with the Ostend city council, he suppressed the Fishermen's Revolt in 1887 in a bloody and repressive manner. On the other hand, there is the Congo, where Belgian colonialism under his rule led to the deaths of an estimated 10 to 20 million victims.
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The equestrian statue in Ostend, erected during the interwar period, fully reflects the zeitgeist of the time. Officially commissioned by the City of Ostend, it was inaugurated in 1931 by King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth, at the height of Belgian colonialism.

Ria Pacquée's video work, which came about rather by chance, highlights the city's complex and ambivalent attitude towards its role in minimizing or dismissing the significance of Belgium's colonial legacy. In Washing Away the Past, which captures the cleaning of vandalism after activists smeared the statue with red paint, the paint flows like blood from the monument onto the ground. While the visible damage is washed away, the act of cleaning underscores how far we are from truly confronting the past.