patricia kaersenhout: The Third Dimension
Kunstenaars
Josephine Baker, Suzanne Césaire, Frida Kahlo, and Paulette and Jeanne Nardal; these five women are the focus of the new work Le retour des femmes colibris by patricia kaersenhout. The film is part of her solo exhibition The Third Dimension. Forgotten stories of women of color, on display from October 7 to November 20 at a special location in Amstel III: Hettenheuvelweg 8.
Négritude Movement
Le retour des femmes colibris is the name of the film developed by kaersenhout in collaboration with CBK Zuidoost. In it, the maker stages a fictional meeting with five women who played an invisible role within the Négritude movement, an important organization for black emancipation. Historically, these women could have attended the legendary four-day First International Congress of Black Writers and Artists. That took place in 1956 in the Amphithéatre Descartes at the Sorbonne
Underexposed
It was one of the most important gatherings of black intellectuals in the twentieth century. But women were missing, although they did have a role in the organization. kaersenhout wants to correct that underexposed role. She presents the five women in question in men’s suits (controversial in the nineteenth century), made of Vlisco fabric, a reference to the Dutch colonial past.
Retrospective
The film will be screened in a separate room in a former office at 8 Hettenheuvelweg in Amstel III. A large retrospective exhibition can be seen in an adjoining room. It is a selection of approximately sixty works of art from eleven different series. In terms of content, this ties in with the larger theme of the film: making visible black women who have been systematically ignored, belittled or skipped in Western historiography.
The Third Dimension by patricia kaersenhout is the second solo exhibition that CBK is organizing in collaboration with an artist. In 2019 – before the pandemic – it was Charl Landvreugd who, with his installation Movt. nr 10 Ososma loosened the tongues in the art world.
About the artist
In her work, patricia kaersenhout investigates how her Surinamese background relates to her upbringing in Western European culture. She shows how the African diaspora and colonialism led to the invisibility of groups of people. With her projects she gives a voice, strength and dignity to those who have been forgotten.
kaersenhout exhibits all over the world in musea, art institutions and cultural platforms.
Opening hours: Wednesday up and until Sunday from 1 – 6 pm.
Route to Hettenheuvelweg 8:
on foot from metrostation Bullewijk: follow the Vlisco fabric wrapped around the street lights along the route.
There is limited parking space in front of the building. You can use the parking lot at IKEA across the street.