IDENTITIES – Contemporary Caribbean perspectives

The Dutch-Caribbean identity cannot be confined to a single location, language, or culture. Its diversity is tied up with the colonial and recent histories of the islands. Artists Quinsy Gario, Rachel Morón, Kevin Osepa, and  quest-curatorSara Blokland provide a critical contemporary perspective on these histories and identities. They were inspired by the museum’s collection and archives, among other things. Combining existing and new works, they retrace and untangle known and unknown stories about the Dutch colonial relations and contemporary issues concerning identity and representation.

In her work, Rachel Morón reflects on her Jewish-Caribbean family history, which has been shaped by migration, the impact of anti-Semitism, and building a new life in the Caribbean. Quinsy Gario combines his own family archives with objects from the museum’s collection to create new ‘historical’ narratives. In this way, he reflects on the relationship between institutional and private collections, and the way information is passed on and recorded. In the work of

Sara Blokland, it is not the museum’s collection that takes central stage, but the things that happen behind the scenes. She uses museum props to zoom in on the way museums develop their ‘colonial narratives’. Finally, modern spiritual experiences play an important role in the work of Kevin Osepa. In his poetic videos and installations, he observes the role of religion, masculinity, and the perception of gender in Curaçao and Dutch society.

 

Concept, compilation and realization

Sara Blokland (curator) /Wereldmuseum

Participating artists

Quinsy Gario, Rachel Morón, Kevin Osepa en Sara Blokland

Exhibition design

Studio Wendy Rommers

Project management

Imke Asmussen (MetImke)

Graphic production

SwoonSign

Translations

Nathifa Martina- Palabricks (Papiaments)

Henriette Schoenmaker (Engels)

Technical implementation

Robin van Hamburg  (RB Productie bv)

Martijn Hollander (K-tijn Studio)

Edwin van Helden (Klusburowijk 13)

This exhibition was jointly made possible by

The research project ‘Imagining the Nation in the Classroom: A Study of the Politics of Belonging and Nationness on Sint Maarten & Sint Eustatius’
funded by NWO – The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research[Caribbean Research Programme, grant number 858.14.33].

With very special thanks to  Wayne Modest and the RCMC