2023-10-08 04:00:00
Report in our video at the top of this article.
“Revélations” exhibition, by photographer Denis Gauvain, at Bois du Cazier Jacques Duchateau ©Jacques Duchateau
There are sixteen of them. Sixteen bodies who had been buried in the Marcinelle cemetery, among the 262 victims of the largest mining disaster the country had experienced. On their tombstone, a word: unknown. Michele’s father is probably among them. This Italian promised his dying mother to repatriate his father’s body to Italy.
To allow Michele and so many others to definitively turn the page and close their mourning, the authorities (municipal, federal, etc.) have therefore undertaken to identify these bodies. Exhumation, DNA identification, research by forensic medicine specialists, DIV. Everything was done, over almost a year, to give a name to those who had disappeared into oblivion.
All worked on a voluntary basis. And under the gaze full of humanity of Denis Gauvain.
“Revélations” exhibition, by photographer Denis Gauvain, at Bois du Cazier Jacques Duchateau ©Jacques Duchateau
Its exhibition, powerful and touching at the same time, brings together no less than 84 photos retracing all the stages of this great human adventure. Few bodies were ultimately able to be identified. Only two of them found their identity and were able to be reburied in the cemetery, under a stone bearing their name. Michele’s dad’s body has not been found. “Probably it was returned to another family during the identifications following the disaster.”
Michele will therefore return to Italy without being able to keep the promise made to his dying mother. Sad end to the story.
“Revélations” exhibition, by photographer Denis Gauvain, at Bois du Cazier Jacques Duchateau ©Jacques Duchateau
The “Révélations” exhibition can be seen at the Bois du Cazier museum, in Marcinelle, from Tuesday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Weekends, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Access included in the museum entrance price. Some images might offend visitors’ sensibilities.
“Revélations” exhibition, by photographer Denis Gauvain, at Bois du Cazier Jacques Duchateau ©Jacques Duchateau
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