The new exhibition ‘Atlantic Window III: Sarojini Lewis – Silence of the Sea: A Trace of Soerdie’ can be seen in the Maritime Museum.
Artist and researcher Sarojini Lewis takes on the role of Soerdie, the first female contract worker who was shipped from India, via Barbados, to Suriname. Using books, letters and travel reports from that time, Lewis imagines what Soerdie’s life might have been like.
Silence of the Sea: A Trace of Soerdie
On 1 July 1863, the Netherlands abolished slavery in Suriname on paper. In reality, the ‘liberated’ in Suriname are obliged to continue working on the plantations for another ten years. After this, the Netherlands does not want production on the plantations to come to a standstill. So-called ‘contract workers’ are recruited. These people are often recruited with false promises in countries such as China, India and Indonesia. Sometimes they leave their country of their own accord, sometimes they are forced or kidnapped. They receive little pay and work under horrible conditions on the plantations. Many of them stay in Suriname and never see their native country again.
Sarojini Lewis came across the person Soerdie in the archives of the Royal Library in The Hague. In her research, Lewis imagines what her life might have been like. Her self-portraits at historical locations respond to the energy present on the abandoned plantations in Suriname and archive material that she has previously found.
Sarojini Lewis
Sarojini Lewis (1984, India/Suriname/Netherlands) is a visual artist specializing in photographic archives, video art, and art books. She currently works as a curator, researcher, and artist. Her postdoctoral research in visual arts examines the archives of contract labor with a contemporary perspective.
Atlantic Windows
In the series Atlantic Windows, contemporary artists reflect on the exhibition Shadows on the Atlantic Ocean, about the impact of colonial history on people’s lives.
Atlantic Window III: Sarojini Lewis – Silence of the Sea: A Trace of Soerdie, until October 1, National Maritime Museum, Kattenburgerplein 1