Administratiekist van het Légion Franche Etrangère c. 1792

This is an administration chest of the Foreign Legion, made anonymously, and its austere presence is deeply tied to the history of colonial power and military administration. The chest, with its plain wooden surface and iron fittings, embodies the practical, unadorned functionality required for the administration of a military unit far from its homeland. Consider the identities and histories intertwined with such an object. The Legion was often composed of men from various countries, backgrounds, and motivations. This chest would have held documents – orders, pay records, disciplinary actions – that shaped the lives and fates of these individuals. It also signifies the impersonal nature of bureaucratic control, reducing lives to data and decisions contained within its walls. As such, the emotional weight of the piece lies in what it symbolizes about the treatment of individuals within the machinery of colonial governance.