Boris Kor Tom Zeebroek was staring up at a grey gothic building in the centre of Ghent, squinting against the late September sun. Above the town square, an 18th-century Flemish relief loomed. It depicted a daughter suckling her own father. The image is called the Mammelokker.
Zeebroek, alongside his bandmate Charlotte Adigéry, was guiding a tour of their medieval home town. The Mammelokker was one stop on their route around Ghent. The sculpture’s unsettling story drew their attention amid the city’s mix of old and new.
Adigéry and Zeebroek first met through music but now they are processing their personal lives through their work. Their debut combined pop with politics. This year, they have shifted focus, exploring more intimate themes. The tour offered a chance to revisit their surroundings, bringing history and art into conversation with their music.
Ghent’s gothic architecture is a backdrop for many stories. The Mammelokker, carved in stone centuries ago, confronts viewers with a disturbing narrative. Its image is not common in public art, an 18th-century representation of a daughter nursing her father is both shocking and rare.
The relief’s location, high above the town square, means most people pass beneath without a second glance. But Zeebroek encouraged looking up, squinting through the sunlight to see the details. For Adigéry, the sculpture’s presence recalled the city’s complex past and its influence on their creative process.
The tour was not a typical sightseeing trip. It was personal, layered with meaning for the duo. The Gothic building and its sculpture are part of the city’s fabric, yet they also echo themes of dependence and care, discomfort and intimacy, themes that resonate with their current artistic direction.
Ghent in late September was unusually warm. The sun cast long shadows on the medieval streets as the musicians walked beneath the Mammelokker. The sculptural relief, with its grisly subject, sits apart from the city’s more familiar tourist sights. It asks questions about family, taboo, and history.
The tour was a moment of reflection. For Adigéry and Zeebroek, the Mammelokker was not merely a grotesque curiosity but a symbol to confront. Their music had moved from broader political commentary to exploring personal lives. The sculpture offered a physical reminder of the past’s hold on the present.
This visit to the Mammelokker was part of a broader engagement with their home city. Ghent’s streets, buildings, and public art provided context for their evolving work. They took the time to study the city they had grown up in, its contradictions and its stories.
The sculpture’s depiction remains a stark image in Ghent’s town square. It is an 18th-century Flemish carving, unusual and unsettling. Zeebroek and Adigéry’s choice to include it in their tour speaks to their desire to confront difficult histories and personal memories through their art.
The Mammelokker remains in place above Ghent’s square, a silent witness to centuries of change. For Adigéry and Zeebroek, it was a moment to pause and reflect. The city’s gothic architecture offered a glimpse of the past, one they revisited on their own terms.
According to The Guardian.
