M'a wak un rosea, m'a skucha un lus (Saw a Breath, Heard a Light)

PHOTO EXHIBITION DE MIX NEDERLAND with Hannes Wallrafen (1951) & Kevin Osepa (1994). A duo exhibition for Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA station and at CBK Zuidoost Amsterdam. .

Please note: The exhibition is accessible to people with a visual impairment through Guide ID guidance at the CBK Zuidoost exhibition, and there is a relief 2.5D print by Daphne Wagenman based on a photo by Kevin Osepa to enable tactile experience of the image. The outdoor exhibition at Hoekenrodeplein in front of Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA station has been made accessible via Navilens QR codes.

From April 25, the exhibition De Mix Nederland M’a wak un rosea, m’a skucha un lus will be on display: an installation by Kevin Osepa (1994, Willemstad, Curaçao) and work from the archive of photographer Hannes Wallrafen (1951, Mönchengladbach, Germany).

Public events will be held in conjunction with the exhibition. For instance, on May 11, there is an Art Café where both artists will discuss their artistic practice. And during Amsterdam Art Week on June 2, there is a workshop for children by Hannes Wallrafen.

More information will follow and can be found on this page.

Kevin Osepa is inspired by how Wallrafen transforms people’s stories into images. Osepa also works on the boundary between reality, imagination, time, and spirituality that is interwoven into everyday life. In recent years, the young artist has made a name for himself with impressive images in which the search for his identity (or identities) is supported and visualized by motifs from Curaçaoan reality.

Invisible perspectives of Curaçao

Storytelling with a link to memory, history, culture, and identity connects the work of these two artists. They found a common source in the sound fragments Wallrafen recorded in Curaçao in the year he became blind. These form the starting point for Osepa’s new work. He takes the sounds of 2004 back to the island and searches for a new perspective on cultural identity there, by sharing the sounds and engaging in conversations with people who often have invisible perspectives—perspectives that are underrepresented within the community. He translates these personal anecdotes into art. Sound proves to be the catalyst for memories of the Curaçaoan community, which are made visible in a layered installation featuring photographs, films, and sound.

Hannes Wallrafen plays an important role in Dutch photographic history through his contribution to changes within documentary photography. In the 1970s and 80s, he worked as a classic social photographer; in the late 80s, he evolved into a director of images with an often magical touch. He moved from depicting events to imagining them. The decisive moment was not simply captured but deliberately created. The images were not ‘fictional dream pictures’ but carefully constructed stagings—sometimes the result of a commission, sometimes inspired by literature, and often carrying implicit commentary on world events. In the spring of 2004, Wallrafen became almost completely blind due to a hereditary disease. Since then, he has been discovering the world of sound.

M’a wak un rosea, m’a skucha un lus is the North Holland and tenth edition in a series of twelve exhibitions of De Mix Nederland. In each edition, historical photography is used as a source of inspiration by contemporary Dutch photographers. An initiative of the Beeldmix foundation together with NS, ProRail, and CBK Zuidoost Amsterdam. Featuring two exhibition locations: CBK Zuidoost Amsterdam and NS station Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA.

De Mix Nederland M’a wak un rosea, m’a skucha un lus can be seen from April 25 to June 30, 2024, at CBK Zuidoost Amsterdam and on the square in front of NS station Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA.

During Amsterdam Art Week (May 30 to June 2, 2024), CBK Zuidoost is organizing a public program in the context of this exhibition. More information will follow.

De Mix Nederland is supported by NS, ProRail, CBK Zuidoost, Mondriaan Fund, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Noord-Holland, AFK, the City of Amsterdam, and the Hartenfonds foundation.

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