Gyonne Goedhoop, Richard Kofi & Simone Zeefuik in conversation with psychiatrist Glenn Helberg and dancer/choreographer Junadry Leocaria. In Rotterdam, Afro-Dutch and Caribbean-Dutch communities have been fighting for respect and recognition for years. Struggles with local policy and politics largely determine the dynamics and character of the city. How can we express our feelings of refusal, revenge and rebellion process in our art, spirituality and culture?
What does the city look like when we center the well-being of the Caribbean-Dutch communities? And how can we, from our diaspora communities in the Netherlands, effectively engage in dialogue with our people in Aruba, Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Saba, Curacao and St. Maarten? We will discuss ways to celebrate our identities, claim our position in society and enforce mental and material forms of reparations. What role do the arts play in this? How can we process our feelings of refusal, revenge and rebellion in our art, spirituality and culture?
The source of inspiration for this conversation is the work of Anna Jane McIntyre from the exhibition The Visual Life of Social Affection, an initiative of transnational Caribbean platform Small Axe. In an outline of her own face, she exposes various colonial traces – components that we have inherited without asking, perhaps prefer to forget, but from a Caribbean perspective embody and have learned to make our own.(1)
Dr. Glenn Helberg (Willemstad, 1955) is an activist and psychiatrist, specialized in youth psychiatry and transcultural psychiatry. He was also chairman of the Antillean interest group Ocan, member of the Advisory Board of the College for Human Rights, and chairman of the Think Tank Social Cohesion in Zeeburg (Amsterdam). In 2019 he received the lifetime achievement award of the Black Achievement Awards.
Junadry Leocaria (Willemstad, 1985) is a dancer and choreographer. She danced with ISH Dance Collective and before that with Don't Hit Mama, specializes in Waacking and is one of the founders of the dance crew Female Lethal. With her recent solo 'Tambú, a Freedom Song', she honors her ancestors and aspects of Curaçao's cultural heritage that were long forbidden.
Project Wiaspora
Project Wiaspora is the podcast for revolutionary futurists and decolonized minds. The recordings take place at special locations, where Richard Kofi and Simone Zeefuik discuss the local social impact of art, culture and activism. For this they invite rebellious artists, musicians, writers and other creatives who fight free from the expectations of the mainstream.
