“We have apologized, what more can we do?” Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon response when Australians are asked about the colonial wrongs of the past. The extraordinary documentary In My Blood It Runs shows exactly what Australia can do for the First Peoples of Australia besides apologizing. The history of colonialism rarely effects white […]
Can you save Superman? Queer blood could
Art by Jordan Eagles used in the online exhibition Can you save Superman? for the Leslie-Lohman museum In 1981 several, previously healthy gay men got seriously ill from pneumonia or cancer in Los Angeles, New York and California. At the end of the year 270 men suffered from (auto-)immune disease. 121 men died. Some people […]
Traces of Slavery Utrecht: The city as an archive
“Adjacent to the wharf-level warehouse at Oudegracht 20, we find a streetlight on a sculpted pedestal depicting four shackled men. On their shoulders, they carry a man who is smoking a pipe. In the background, we see palm trees.” This is one of many texts you can find in the walking guide of the project: […]
1 commemoration, 4 Nations, 1000 Voices
The exhibition First Americans, in the Volkenkunde Museum is part of the bigger commemoration project of Leiden 400. The exhibition is about the resilience of the native American people, who have lived through many hardships since the European pilgrims took their land. The exhibition wants you to take a moment to think about the Native […]
Rising Tide
Global warming is a hotly debated issue everywhere. Politics is full of deniers, people refuse to act, and big companies are actively hindering meaningful change. However at the same time real people are in real danger. Bushfires in Australia and California, dying coral reefs and droughts affect millions of people around the globe. For the […]
B(L)ack to the past
In a time where ‘Black Lives Matter’-protests have revived and structural racism is being rightfully denounced, the relevance of the temporary exhibition ‘HERE. Black in Rembrandts time’ is undeniable. This exhibition by Elmer Kolfin and Stephanie Archangel in the Rembrandt house museum, focuses on the presentation of black people in the seventeenth century and wants to shift the attention […]
‘Fuk the Police’ – The history you probably didn’t listen to
Mind your language A black man killed by a police officer. Were you shocked after reading the previous sentence? Probably not. Nothing new, right? Last year, in 2019, 250,52 million residents of the United States of America were white. 370 were shot to death by the police. That’s 0.000148%. In the same year 44,08 million […]
Analysis: HIER. Zwart in Rembrandts tijd
The exhibition ‘HIER. Zwart in Rembrandts tijd’ was presented in The Rembrandthuis from 6 March until 11 September 2020. The funding was done by Fonds 21, The Mondriaan Fonds, The Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds, Ten Hagen Fonds, VSBfonds and the Nachenius Tjeenk Stichting. Originally the exhibition was scheduled until the 31st of May, but due to […]
Mapping Slavery – are you living next to a plantation owner?
It looks just like a regular old house in Leiden, the house on the Oude Singel 118. Maybe a bit bigger and more decorated than its neighbours, though nothing special for a house in the once thriving city of Leiden. I must have passed it many times without noticing it. But this particular house does […]
Bottom-up History – Stories from the Streets
Have you ever wandered through the Amsterdam Red Light District and wondered how these people came to work there? Or maybe you have felt hesitant to approach a homeless person in your city even though their story intrigues you. This interest in life at the bottom of the social ladder is completely normal, since it […]