Shantrelle P. Lewis
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The Dutch Caribbean Project

As a 2011 OAZO Curator-In-Residence and a 2012-13 Andy Warhol Curatorial Fellow, in preparation for the 2015 exhibition Negotiating Identity: The Space Between Assimilation and Resistance in Contemporary Dutch Caribbean Diasporan Art, I have been engaged in research about the ways in which geography, language, cosmology, slavery, colonialism, independence and migration have shaped the identities (and the art practices) of artists in the Dutch Caribbean Diaspora. The Dutch Caribbean orbit encompasses Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles (including Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius) and the mainland of the Netherlands. Perhaps due to a combination of language barriers and physical remoteness, there has been very little contemporary art scholarship that connects activity in the Dutch Caribbean to larger conversations about the African diaspora in the Western Hemisphere. I’ve traveled back and forth to the Netherlands to conduct studio visits, identify artists for the exhibition and meet with art historians and scholars to identify essayists and topics for the exhibition’s catalogue. I have also traveled to the Antilles and Suriname to meet local artists, curators and scholars and visited various cultural and contemporary art institutions.

A large percentage of travel and research has been supported by the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Stay tuned for more information about The Dutch Caribbean Project.

Photo Credit: Don Fela Ford

© 2021 Shantrelle P. Lewis