During the period June 20-August 11, 2012, two Dutch artists, Wim Vonk and Marja van Putten from Amsterdam, and one artist from Suriname, Isidoor Wens, living and working in Den Bosch (NL), have worked in Botopasi, Sipaliwini, Suriname. They stayed at the ARTCEB artist residency in Botopasi, one of the African diaspora villages of the Saramaccan population in Suriname. This Maroon village is located at the Suriname river at the edge of the Amazon tropical rain forest.
ARTCEB Residency in Botopasi | PHOTO ARTCEB, 2012
The result of their residency will be exhibited in the Surinaams Museum, Fort Zeelandia, Paramaribo, Suriname, from Thursday 16-Sunday, August 19, 2012.
Wim Vonk will present PTJIN FOWRU: little birds and strange insects of the Botopasi area (installation & works on paper).
Wim Vonk, ptjin fowru, 2012 | PHOTO ARTCEB, 2012
Marja van Putten shows paintings and drawings under the name COLOURED FOREST.
Marja van Putten, Color Forest 2, 2012 | PHOTO ARTCEB, 2012
And Isidore Wens part is named: CARRIERS – Examining the void wherein the Lays Replace existing foundation of the present ….
Isidoor Wens, title unknown, 2012 | PHOTO ARTCEB, 2012
Isidoor Wens established this artist-in-residency in his native village, and this was the second time people came to Botopasi. For the remote village of a great opportunity to come into contact with contemporary art and working together with the artists.
For the two Dutch artists, Wim Vonk and Marja van Putten it was a great experience to live and work for two months in this isolated Maroon village. The unfamiliar culture, the everyday life with the inhabitants of the village, the overwhelming presence of the forest, the daily rhythm in the heat, the rain, the rising water of the river, all these elements made this a unique experience.
For Isidoor Wens it was also a return to his youth, although more than once it was proved that the days of long gone by are gone and no longer exist as such. This ‘lost time’ echoes in the stories Isidoor tells daily. He mourns and he observes and tries to communicate his feelings with his work. He talks about ‘being lost’ in his own village, between his own perceptions and local reality.
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Invitation
What: Art Botopasi. Three artists who have just fnished an ARTCEB residency in Botopasi will show the results. Wim Vonk will present PTJIN FOWRU: little birds and strange insects of the Botopasi area (installation & works on paper). Marja van Putten shows paintings and drawings under the name COLOURED FOREST. And Isidoor Wens part is named: CARRIERS - Examining the void wherein the Lays Replace existing foundation of the present ….
When: August 17-19, 2012, 09:00-12:00 & 13:00-17:00. Official opening Thursday, August 16 at 19:00
Where: Surinaams Museum, Fort Zeelandia, Paramaribo, Suriname
More background information and pictures are on the project’s weblog: www.botopasi.arttrust.nl
