Colonial Objects
This project began with a selection of objects from the art depot of Bronbeek Museum of colonial history. I was drawn to the objects represented here because of the way they embody both violence and humanity.
Many museum objects carry traces of colonial conflict, displacement, and unequal power relations. At the same time, they are tangible reminders of lives that were lived. By working with these artefacts, I approach them as points of encounter and invite reflection on the stories of violence and humanity that resonate through them.
Artistic Process
I have sought to develop a felt experience of the violence and humanity that the objects inhabit by combining screen printing, ceramics, and stories written from the perspective of the bird, the Buddha, the blouse, and the bag.
The bird, killed, stuffed, and removed from its natural surroundings in Papua New Guinea carries the violence of those acts. Its current situation is one of alienation and limbo: it sits on a shelf in a basement with no purpose, other than conservation. The history of the Buddha statue points to family use on Java and subsequent trading as an art object. In the depot it is inappropriately placed in the metal room underneath a stack of rifles. The blouse and the bag were objects made by women who were imprisoned in the Japanese camps and expressions of humanity under extremely violent circumstances.
I used historical photographs to reconnect the four objects to their original environment, while the faded colours point to the fact that they are no longer there. The stories imagine the perspectives of the bird and the objects themselves, inviting viewers to engage with them as more than historical artefacts. Drawing on a more-than-human perspective, they explore how these objects continue to carry relationships, memories, and traces of both violence and humanity.
What’s Next?
After having explored the voices of the different objects, a question that arose was: What if these objects could speak with each other? This led to a new endeavour currently under development with Tjoerd Zweije, Jessica Apon, and Hans Jeths, in which we explore what happens when we represent the objects in a constellation in the presence of an audience. Contact me for updates on this project.