2025-11-20 | Razia Barsatie: at a group exhibition at Suriname Museum in Amsterdam
Our fellow Razia Barsatie is participating in the opening exhibition 'Meet Su Meet Us' at the Suriname Museum. Among the works of many talented artists, you can see her scent installation TIME SMELLS OF A THOUSANDS SCENTS (De Tijd Ruikt naar Duizenden Geuren).
Meet Su Meet Us is the opening exhibition of the Suriname Museum. It forms the basis for the Suriname Museum's core exhibition, in which visitors are introduced to the shared history and present of Suriname and the Surinamese diaspora in an accessible way through a multidisciplinary program consisting of artworks, archival documents, artifacts, objects, videos, compilations of oral traditions, educational programs, interactive games, and fringe programming. With this exhibition, the Suriname Museum presents key points from this shared history in a contemporary, chronologically thematic format. Through various experience spaces, 350 years of Surinamese-Dutch history is explored. Never before have Suriname and the Surinamese diaspora been presented to the general public in such a unique and substantive way.
The exhibition consists of two parts: 'Meet Su!' and 'Meet Us!':Meet Su! (popularly known as Su, short for Suriname) presents the history, flora, and fauna of Suriname. Visitors are initially transported back to the period before the arrival of Europeans in the Americas; the period of indigenous populations such as the Caribs, Arawaks, Trios, Wayanas, and Akuurios. Interactive knowledge exercises, photography, projections, and sounds stimulate various senses. Visitors are immersed in the rich flora and fauna of Suriname as part of the Amazon region. Subsequently, various migration flows to Suriname are revealed chronologically: the arrival of Africans as a result of transatlantic slavery, the development of enslaved plantations managed by Portuguese Jews and the Dutch, and the arrival of descendants of Dutch laborers and farmers. The migration of Hindustani laborers from India and Javanese from the former Dutch East Indies marks the beginning of the indentured labor period after the abolition of slavery. Together with the Chinese, who were the very first indentured laborers employed from 1853 onwards during the final years of slavery, and later became shopkeepers and traders, it forms the further foundation for the cultural melting pot of Suriname and the Surinamese diaspora. 'Meet Su!' covers the period up to Suriname's official independence on November 25, 1975.
Meet Us! consists of presentations of tangible and intangible heritage, such as objects and oral traditions, from the Surinamese diaspora communities living in the Netherlands. In 'Meet Us!', all Surinamese communities welcome the audience into their world. Over the years, they have left the former colony of Suriname for the Netherlands for various reasons. Meet Us! focuses on the personal stories and traditions, community initiatives, cultural events, and achievements of the Surinamese diaspora. Visitors will find answers to questions such as: To what extent does the relationship with Suriname remain important? What impact has setting down your suitcases in the Netherlands had on your identity? Meet Us! is about adaptation and the importance of preserving and further developing your own culture. Using archive footage, audio clips, and photography, well-known and lesser-known trailblazers offer insights into their life experiences and perceptions of their personal connection with Suriname and the Netherlands.
Photo: Razia Barsatie next to her installation: TIME SMELLS OF A THOUSANDS SCENTS (De Tijd Ruikt naar Duizenden Geuren)
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