© 2025 edited photo with pastel chalk
This art project explores colonial history, identity and feminene power. It is a personal and visual search for colonial relations in the Dutch East Indies, with the white kebaya – a blouse worn by Indo-European women – as a benchmark.
The inspiration arose during the farewell of my grandmother, who moved to the Dutch East Indies when she was two years old and after her death was laid out in the Netherlands in a sarong and white kebay. This caused outrage within the family: they thought it wa too ‘native’. For her it was a sign o solidarity. My grandmother’s kebaya went down in ashes with her. Clothing reflects more than fashion or climate. It reveals identity, origin and social position.
exhibition at CBK Zuidoost