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Also in Mea Culpa (2020), the first work in the exhibition, kaersenhout invites visitors to express their opinion. On the wall, opposite a series of 3D sculptures of crawling white men, a reference to the Catholic way of atoning for sins by enduring physical hardship, one can read the question: Which political leader or CEO should do penance? And why? Visitors can write down their answers in a book. So far, they have leaned towards Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, but Jair Bolsonaro, Mark Rutte, Nawaz Shariff and Shell CEOs have also been named, alongside more creative answers.

Spirituality

kaersenhout felt the need to work with colonialism and slavery as a student at art school. However, the white surroundings and the emphasis on Western art made it difficult for her to find her niche as an artist. It wasn’t until later during a decolonial summer school programme that she learned how to contextualize her work and found the vocabulary to articulate her artistic concepts more clearly. Theory but also the contact with other Black makers brought her recognition and a tradition she could identify with. One of the elements that characterize kaersenhout’s work on a conceptual level is the relationship with ancestry and spirituality: “It’s extremely important because it’s about making things right. You are always responsible for what your ancestors did or went through. And it’s your duty to rectify it. If they committed injustice, you should fight for justice. But if they were the perpetrators, then white descendants must also make things right.”

By telling stories that have been erased or ignored by colonialism, kaersenhout tries to raise awareness and give the audience a sense of justice. As it can be seen in her solo exhibition in the Bonnefanten, by using different mediums – from glass and video installations, mixed media, and collages to textile works – kaersenhout builds a story archive. During our conversation, I once again become aware of my Western mindset. When I asked her about the origin of the stories, I realized afterwards that I had expected a rational answer or a link to intuition or oral tradition. But for kaersenhout, this is closely related to spirituality: “I never look for stories, stories come to me. It’s a completely different way of working. When you are dealing with ancestry, something happens on a spiritual level. I get signals and then I know I have to do something with this. It can happen in different ways. Once you start recognizing the signals, things will come to you.”

This approach is also influenced by Saidiya Hartman’s theory of Critical Fabulation, another way of writing history. According to kaersenhout, “It is about reading the archive differently because it was not written for Black people.” Critical fabulation explores silences and the absence of slave voices in transatlantic history. It fills the gaps that still exist today. An example of this is Proud Rebels (2015). This non-linear audiovisual work brings out the power of Black women by intertwining past and present. The story of Christina, an enslaved woman who lived in the 18th century and was imprisoned in the Spinhuis in Amsterdam, is interwoven with that of women who were part of the feminist Black, Migrant and Refugee Movement in the Netherlands in the second half of the 20th century.

“Flight and Resistance”: from idea to design

For kaersenhout, a monument demands clear visual language. Last December, it was announced that she would design a slavery monument in Utrecht. The monument will be unveiled today in the Griftpark during Keti Koti, the annual commemoration and celebration of the abolition of slavery in Suriname and the Caribbean part of the Netherlands. “I didn’t want the cliché of the broken chain or the suffering Black man.”

This monument brings together history, ancestry, and spirituality. Her starting point for the design was the ‘Peace of Utrecht’ in 1713 and the signing of the Asiento de Negros contract which legalized the slave trade and stimulated it on an unprecedented scale. The shape of the ship refers to the triangular trade between Europe, Africa, and America, a clear symbolism according to the artist. And finally, the myth of the Flying Africans, a Caribbean slave legend that symbolizes freedom and a new future. It’s about enslaved people who stopped eating salt because they thought it would make them lighter and allow them to fly back to Africa. The only challenge for kaersenhout was the flying part: “I’d worked with this myth before, but this time I thought: how am I going to make them fly? On poles!”

The monument consists of two separate pieces. In addition to the ship with the three Flying Africans by the water, the fourth Flying African heading south on top of the hill has a welcoming function. All four fly in different wind directions. According to the artist, “That’s where our bodies have been scattered.” There is also a strong spiritual and symbolic dimension. Before the monument was erected, 20,000 cowrie shells, the price of one human being, were strewn under the base as a symbolic act. A Wintri priest invoked the ancestors in all four cardinal directions and asked them for permission to bless the ground.

During a visit to the exhibition Black Indians of New Orleans at the Parisian Musée du quai Branly (on view from 4/10/22 to 5/1/2023), the artist came up with the idea of ​​making openings on the sides of the ship that have the same dimensions of that people had on board at the time. In this way, visitors can better imagine what the journey was like on the slave ship. “Because it is about the suffering of millions of people for centuries, you must address history emotionally. I wanted to do something that would elicit an emotional response. So, I decided to make the openings on the side. You can feel it with your hands. It’s very intense.”

A conversation piece for healing and connection

Every day, for 30 minutes, the monument will be illuminated with purple light. The choice of this color was inspired by the movie The Color Purple, (1985) based on the novel by Alice Walker (1982), and by its association with healing. kaersenhout hopes this will create a sense of magic: “Sharing a magical moment with each other also creates connection.”

Via a QR code, visitors can listen to six short stories about resistance heroes: Toussaint Louverture, an important resistance leader in Haiti who inspired Toula in Curaçao and other uprisings; Boni of Suriname, Maria of Curaçao, One-Tete Lohkay of Sint Maarten and Virginia Dementricia of Aruba. patricia tells these stories and asks questions in the hope they will make people think and start a conversation.

“People in the Netherlands often don’t realize that there was rebellion and resistance from the start. For a very long time, there has also been this prevailing notion that it were the white people who became abolitionists and abolished slavery, but Black people also resisted and were actively involved in this process. It was both. I hope this monument becomes a symbol of healing and connection, and that it inspires people to come together and talk to each other. But, as far as I’m concerned, you can also protest, for example, through a Black Lives Matters demonstration.”

Decoloniality should be taken seriously

Decoloniality is about reconstructing what has been destroyed. kaersenhout stresses the complexity of this process: “Everyone embraces the term decoloniality, but nobody really wants to do the work, because the work is work of pain. It is a very slow, laborious, and often lonely and painful process which should be taken seriously.”

A week ago, Recognizing Rebuilding – Chambers of Wonder of Rotterdam’s colonial past opened in the Kunsthall in Rotterdam. This installation is in direct connection to the exhibition in the Bonnefanten. “The only difference is that this installation only depicts white people, for a change. I wanted to show how bizarre and schizophrenic white culture is. They invented the system of racism, colonized, and oppressed Black people for centuries, but then do not want to talk about it and present themselves as white innocents. Racism is a white problem, not a Black problem.”

But how do we keep this in the public eye? According to kaersenhout, one of the biggest misconceptions is that people in white organizations think that simply hiring Black people and people of color will make them inclusive: “Very often, people come up with cosmetic and short-term solutions instead of changing themselves. First, you must think about what it means to be inclusive in relation to the other. And work on this together. If, by any chance, a POC or a disabled person joins your organization, it shouldn’t be a big deal. White people should ensure the environment is safe for everyone.”

Also in terms of power structures, for kaersenhout there’s no change in sight: “I still don’t see a Black person or a person with a disability as director of a museum, but I do see a lot of people of color scrubbing the floors. I think a quota system is the only thing that can change this situation.”

It is not over yet

Although slavery has been legally abolished, according to the Global Slavery Index, there are currently around 50 million people enslaved worldwide. This disguised slavery is also addressed by kaersenhout in Sacred Skin (2023), one of her latest works on view in the Bonnefanten. It was made in collaboration with the Moroccan writer Rashid Novaire and is about the ongoing oppression of the ‘Haratin’ people in Morocco. Drops of black ink fall on the pages of the Bible where the story of Ham is described. This story was told to legitimize transatlantic slavery. Through a ceiling speaker, we hear Novaire read the poem written on the wall aloud. The work brings together two religions and creates tension between the words that the visitor can read and hear and the imminent power of the installation.

kaersenhout addresses the past, the present, and the future. When it comes to the impact of her work, she doesn’t think in terms of time: “I’m very optimistic and have many ideas for future projects, but you can’t change 500 years of slavery and racism just like that. It will take generations to accomplish this. I want to create stepping stones for them, and contribute to positive change.”