Sharing is Caring

May 2023
Eye Museum
Amsterdam, Netherlands

In November 2022, thanks to ACED and VersPers, we were given the opportunity with to investigate the broad theme of ‘Suriname in Amsterdam Noord’. With neither of us being from Amsterdam Noord, it wasn’t easy to figure out where to start.

Over six months, my collaborator Chetana Pai and I have had the pleasure of getting to know Noord a little better, and have discovered what a special place and community it really is. One thing that particularly stood out to us was the number of women in the community – of Surinamese descent and otherwise – who were dedicated to enriching it in all manner of ways. After a lot of debate and discussion, we decided to focus on one particular group within this larger group of women – Surinamese and Antillean women whose businesses and initiatives focused on community and care – for our final project.

Through the zine, map and podcast we have put together, our conversations with Robin, Linda, Risma, Jennifer, Devika and Ellen not only helped us understand their lives better but also brought up larger questions on neighbourhoods and how they make space (or not) for various forms of community and care, forcing us to think about how these issues played out in the neighbourhoods that we ourselves were more familiar with.

Big thanks to Isaura Sanwirjatmo and Wouter Stroet for their help and guidance ❤️

Kindly supported by Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst