With blood not gold
A glimpse of freedom through the mind of:
Isidor Slewe, a member of the Saamaka tribe from the Kwama-lo clan.
Kwama Dance
Kwama-lo
Maroons: Fighters for Freedom
Maroons are descendants of enslaved Africans who fought back for their freedom by fleeing from plantations. They settled deep in the rainforest of South America, including in Suriname and French Guiana, where they built their own communities, cultures, and traditions. Through their resistance against colonial domination, often via guerrilla warfare, they managed to enforce independence and territorial rights.
In Suriname, the first peace treaty with the Aukaners was signed on October 10, 1760, recognizing their autonomy. This was a century before the abolition of slavery in Suriname on July 1, 1863.
The artist Isidor Slewe is a Saramaccan Maroon from the Kwama-lo clan.
Ma Pansa
"Ma Pansa"
In her braids, she carried not gold, but life.
Ma Pansa escaped slavery with rice seeds hidden in her hair. From her hands, hope grew.
Ma Pansa played an indispensable role in the resistance against slavery in Suriname. Around 1740, she fled the plantation for the rainforest, where she joined the Saamaka, a Maroon community. Ma Pansa symbolizes the crucial role of Maroon women in the fight against oppression and for those who escaped slavery.
What makes Ma Pansa exceptional is the way she provided for survival. Before fleeing, she braided rice seeds into her hair. This painting honors her legacy not as a warrior with weapons, but as a mother who brought solutions.
With fire not gold
Boston Bendt
This work is inspired by the story of Adyáko Benti Basiton, also known as Boston Bendt, an enslaved man who was deported from Jamaica to Suriname. He escaped slavery and became a key figure in the largest slave uprising in Suriname in 1757.
With his unique ability to read and write, he gave voice to the resistance. He wrote pamphlets on behalf of the Maroons, in which they demanded their freedom and recognized themselves as an independent nation. His words and actions played a crucial role in the peace treaties between the colonial government and the Maroons.
In the painting, the burning house of a slave owner is depicted. A symbol of resistance and the end of oppression.
Home?
"Home?" tells the life story of the artist Isidor Slewe a Saramaccan man who is, at the same time, Dutch.
Wij slaven van Suriname
“No people can reach full maturity if burdened with an inherited sense of inferiority. It took me a long time to fully free myself from this obsession. What would Suriname have been worth without the labor of the enslaved? And yet, at so-called emancipation, nothing was done for these Surinamese. In no way were the poor freed people supported — on the contrary, we are the slaves of Suriname.”
— Anton de Kom
These are various combined quotes and passages from the book We Slaves of Suriname, written by Anton de Kom.
Anton de Kom (1898–1945) was a Surinamese writer, anti-colonial thinker, and resistance fighter. In his book We Slaves of Suriname, he was the first to document the history of slavery and colonialism from the perspective of the oppressed.
His fight for justice began in Suriname, where he stood up for workers and was arrested and exiled. During World War II, he joined the resistance in the Netherlands. In 1944, he was captured by the Nazis and died in the Sandbostel concentration camp in 1945.
"eyes on the cross"
Eyes on the cross
For we do not fight against people, but against the powers that tyrannize this dark world. Flesh and blood are not the problem neither black nor white.
We must look further, look deeper, return to the core of existence. And that is the reality that there is evil and there is good. Whatever you choose, you will reap the fruits of it.
'But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. ' Galatians 3:22
'There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ' Galatians 3:28
In conclusion: the only and ultimate form of eternal freedom.
With blood, not gold.