deBuren

The cartoonist Judith Vanistendael is made the headlines last year with her controversial cartoon debut De maagd en de neger (The Virgin and the Negro), in which she talks about her relationship as a young girl with a refugee from Togo, and about how her father's reaction to it proved him to be less broad-minded than one might expect about our fellow men when they happen to be immigrants. Geert van Istendael described his feelings about it in Bericht uit de burcht.

Judith Vanistendael was born in Leuven, but moved to Brussels when she was five. About her links with the city she says: "I experienced moving here as a return to my roots. My grandmother and grandfather were Flemish immigrants who ran a grocery shop here. From day one I felt like a fish in water. I am a city dweller and Brussels is my biotope."

www.judithvanistendael.be