MARIJA_2018B

White kotomisi,
Queen of Surinam
I made this painting after a
stay in Surinam’s interior as an
artist in residence in 2012.
I googled the image of this
Surinam woman and painted
her on a canvas in which I irst
sewed folds.
She is standing on a balustrade
like a queen, wearing a traditional
Surinam headdress.
This shows immediately that
she is a black Surinam woman.
As a white European woman
I hesitated to color her face:
it seemed too easy a way to
paint a Surinam woman. First
of all painting her skin white is
the best artistic choice for me
and secondly I hope to disturb
stereotypical expectations as
well. You can still see anyway
this woman is from Surinam.
28
White kotomisi and queen of Surinam,
2012, 190 x 100 cm, various paints,
uttons, necklace, wood
Conversation with
Monika Dahlberg
Monika Dahlberg is very active on FB, I saw her energy,
follow her great work and humorous posts. Recently I
went to see her work at the PaltzBiennale, where she
showed a group of African art sculptures, which she
painted white. Most of the African objects came out
of our studio. The collection of African art of Klaas de
Jonge, anthropologist and human rights defender for 40
years, has found a home in the studio of Wim Vonk and
me. During the setup of the exhibition Monika received
some negative responses and questions: could she do
this? Change these pieces while they are cultural heritage
of Africa?
I have lived for more than 10 years with Klaas’ African
artworks in my studio. Klaas worked in African countries
fo forty years and knows fascinating stories about each
object. They were part of his work and connections to the
people in Africa. I am curious to know more about how
Monika looked at these works herself and about her act
of painting them white.
Monika: I now worked with these African statues but I don’t want
be seen as the artist who is only focused on Africa and black history.
I lived almost my whole life here in Holland so I also share that
history. My African roots are a part of me and not the whole story. I
just want to be an artist without any label like woman, black and so
on… and see myself in a greater whole.
Marja: Ok, but art comes from inside, from a personal source,
the soul of the artist. How can you avoid the facts that you are a
woman, black, born in Kenia and living in the Netherlands?
Monika: No, those are facts which I cannot deny but they are just
not my basic start or only focus. My work is not typically Western
but also not non-Western. I think it could be made even by you or
somebody else. I wonder which part makes me an African artist,
which part a Western artist and which part an artist?
Marja: You don’t analyze that for yourself?
Monika: No, not really. Now I used African art, which refers to
where I came from, mainly because I don’t know much about it.