Overstroming en evacuatie 1873

Edgar Alfred Baes made this etching, "Overstroming en evacuatie" or "Flooding and Evacuation", in Belgium in the late nineteenth century. The image depicts a flooded landscape, with houses submerged and people evacuating by boat. Looking at this print, it’s hard not to think about the relationship between humans and nature, and how vulnerable we can be to natural disasters. This was a time of great social change in Belgium, with industrialization and urbanization transforming the landscape and creating new social problems. The image speaks to the anxieties of a society struggling to come to terms with rapid change and its consequences. The focus is on the evacuation, which makes us question what social structures were in place to support the victims of such disasters. Did the government provide assistance, or were people left to fend for themselves? To understand this artwork better, we would need to research the social and economic conditions of Belgium at the time, as well as the history of disaster relief efforts in the country.