« Een Antwerpse burger hœft alleen maar zijn hand in de Schelde te steken om zich met de wereld te verbinden” – Lode Cræybeckx (Mayor of Antwerp, 1897-1976)

The Long Hand is Sammy Baloji’s first permanent public artwork. It was commissioned by the Antwerp Public Art Collection (Kunst in de Stad). The sculpture adorns the southern bank of the River Scheldt, an important gateway between Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The sculpture is made of three composite materials: bronze, bricks and recycled plastic. Bronze is an alloy of tin and copper; the latter is one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's main mining and export products. The bricks were crafted in Maaseik, Limburg, from clay and soil sourced from spoil tips, remnants of Belgium’s lost mining industry. The plastic is waste collected from factories and melted into cut diamond shapes that adorn the bronze figure.

The form and title of the sculpture are derived from the lukasa, a memory board and vital part of the Luba people's oral tradition of historiography and storytelling in Southern Congo. The word lukasa literally translates as long hand in Kiluba. Traditionally, lukasa are made out of wood and ornately embellished with abstract carvings and inlayed with stones or shells. They are used in ceremonies where Luba history and mythology is orally transmitted by a so-called“man of memory” who holds the Lukasa in one hand and traces the lines and encrusted jewels with the other, using them as nodes of information.

Sammy Baloji introduces with The Long Hand a mnemonic device into the public space, making it monumental and aligning it with the tradition of public art as a commemorative signifier.