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High Road to Culture in Flanders and the Netherlands
What does the cash book of a plantation sound like? What are the thoughts of a brush that was used for incantations? In what voice does an eighteenth-century contract speak? And what story is hidden in the doll's house of painter Jacob Appel? Eighteen young Flemish and Dutch authors from deBuren's Paris writing residency give a voice to an artefact from the Slavery exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Betül Sefika was inspired for her visual poem by a rice stalk, which is directly descended from rice seeds that were smuggled from Africa to Suriname by an enslaved woman.
Shimanto Reza wrote a letter inspired by a map of the Bay of Bengal from around 1695.
Elsbet De Pauw wrote a poem in response to an old painting of a doll house.
Jordi Lammers wrote a letter from the perspective of a mouth-bow.
Annemieke Dannenberg gives a voice to a brush used in eighteenth-century incantations.
Esha Guy Hadjadj gives a voice to a military painting by Cornelis Troost from 1742.
Anne Bosveld wrote a prose poem inspired by a panorama of Cape Town.
Johannes Decat gives a voice to the tally marks in an old cash book for a plantation in Brazil.
Emma Wiersma wrote a poem referencing the oldest existing collection of plants from Suriname.
Veneboer wrote a dialogue in response to a portrait of Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution.
Jens Meijen wrote a poem inspired by a contract from 1706 between a plantation owner and a painter.
Anne-Goaitske Breteler wrote a short story inspired by a letter written in response to the abolition of slavery on the French side of Sint Maarten.
Pelumi Adejumo gives a voice to a collar from 1689 bearing the coat of arms of William of Orange.
Marie Borremans wrote a poem inspired by a letter from Pieter Mortamer, commander in Luanda, addressed to Johan Maurits, the then governor-general of Dutch Brazil.
Chris Lomans gives a voice to machetes from the early 19th century that were intended for sugar cane plantations.
Ellis Meeusen took inspiration from the 1863 law, drawn up by King Willem III, that set out the Netherlands’ official abolition of slavery in Suriname.
Bart Decroos wrote a short story inspired by a 1708 drawing by Dirk Valkenburg, entitled ‘View of a Mill and Cook-house on a Plantation in Surinam’.
Babeth Fonchie wrote a poem inspired by old wooden stocks and matching iron shackles.
