Cas Oorthuys' photo archive numbers some 500,000 negatives, including about 7,000 negatives of the Belgian Congo. Oorthuys took these photographs in 1959, commissioned by the Belgian Government Information Service. Most of them are of people, but there are also landscapes, rivers, cities, villages and jungles.As well as pictures of inhabitants of the Belgian Congo, you will see fabric designs worn during that period. For years these cotton prints had been exported to Africa under the trade names of 'Guaranteed Dutch Wax Vlisco' and 'Véritable Wax Hollandais Vlisco'. Even today the textile factory Vlisco BV in Helmond still designs about 150 new patterns every year.The fabrics have an important symbolic meaning to Africans, and are very popular. One of the sources of these colourful patterns is the Indonesian batik culture, but lace patterns from Belgium and the Netherlands enjoy great popularity too.