Roads to the Roots or Stuck in the Mud? - alexvanstipriaan

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theiÍ 'Sudnameness' is undisputed.a Maybe art historian Gloria I€urs was ..... Rudy Getrouw and Stuart Robles de Medina, left the country to study at Dutch.
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Roadsto the Rootsor Stuckin the Mud? Art World The Development of a Surinamese AlexvanStiDriaan / rrt art? That doesnot existyet, I ypicalSurinamese and it will last for maybea hundred yearsbefore that has meltedtogethet'saysone of Suriname's mostplominent visual artists,Erwin de Vries.l Although there have been some attempts to wïite an aÍt history of SurÍnamese visual arts,, no sedous handbook, complete overyieq nor broader sociohistorical analysis has s€en the light so far. Such an attempt will not be made here either. Instead, I will try to describe and analyse developments in the world of Sudnamesevtsual arts by looking at tlle way a Surinameseart world has developed during the twentieth century As ín other Caribbean colonies, art was the pleserve of the white and ltght-coloured elite in the ftrst half of the twentieth century. It was not until the 1950s and 196Oswhen ottreÍ than haditional art emeÍged, ttlat the SuÍinamese art world took a new route. This dynamic change was the rcsult oÍ modemisation plocessesin society at large, goverrunent subsidiesand private initiatives in particular. To sketch the context in which art has developed, I will introduce a categorlsation of Surinameseart which is being used in the few extant handbooks on non-Westem contemporaÍy art.3 Thesecategoriesare basedmore on kriables such as the socioeconoÍnlc context of art. art educatlon. the role of the go!€rÍ[nent, or the influence of city-life, than on questtons of style and aestheticconventions. By ustng thesecategortes,changestn the art(world) might be easterto detect and explain as effected by, or as Íeflections of, chaágesin society at large, while the contours of what SurLnames€art ífght be(come) gain clality. Two obser%tions on - the social context of - Sudnameseart should be mentioned beforehand. The fi$t is that the population of SuÍiname's art world

doesnot reflect the composition of the population at large.l'he largcstcthnic group in Suriname,the Hindustani, are only marginally representedamong SuÍinamese artists, whereas urban Afro-Surinamese,or Creoles, are ovcr and Chineseparticipation is more or lessin balancewith repÍes€nted; Javanese theiÍ demographic proportion. Only speciftc cultural factors explain this situation; exactly what factors, however, reÍain to be studied. Furthermorc, apart from certain aspectsof traditional art { the Sudnameseart world typically is a man's world, This phenomenonhas not been studied either, but in this rcspect Suriname is no exception to the rest of tlle world. The second obsenratlon is that pe$onal rclations have always been quitc dominant in the SurinamedeaÍt world. Most aÍists were helpeq 'dÍscovered', or in another way stimulated at tlle staÍ of their caree$ by other artists and mentors who were more or less estólished; dynamism was often a result of personal ambitions and competition, Furthermore, the organisation of the art world is htghly pe$onalistic too; contactsbetween 'pÍoduceÍs' and 'consumers' are often dircct as there are almost no brokers, m.iddlemen or'agents', and complex, expanded non-Pe.sonal networks do not extst. Obviously this is due to Suriname's small scaleand the dominance of personal relatloÍls within that society. Thirdly, Erwin de vdes may be right in hts statementthat tyPical Sudnamese art does not exlst yet, however, therc is one art category which is geneÍally considered as typically Surinameseand that is the tradltional att of the indigenous people and tlrc Maroons

Tradltlonal Surlnamese Art According to SusanVogel hadittonal art 'emphasizesits connection to received forms moÍe than the invention of the indlvidual artist', which does not mean that these aÍtists would not have a long standing appreciation of innovdtion, or arc not willlng to adopt new ideasand foÍms. Traditional art is often villagebas€d Íural art dominated by inheÍtted Íorms and contents - which does not exclude change, however - and made to senie a conqete Purpose within a specific ethnlc community. New traditions, such as a new religion, or thc changing composition of tlre population by local miSration Ínay result in art being made for new putposes and/or for new or lesssPecific ethnic groups lf Íollon'ing geneÍationsstill produce aÍ in this new style it hasbecome haditiona I too. Tnditional artists often also work for the tourist maÍkeq they have had no fomral artisttc education and 'have been hained though a relaxed form of taditional teaching - usually apPrenticeshipl.s Traditional art is a nther problematic cate8ory becausesome would prefer to define it as craft becauseof its functional character and the limited amount of artistic freedom within rathet strict aestJretic conventions, which makc

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individuality and aesthetic discussion impossible, or so it seems.Let us. therefore, first take a look at what might be included under this heading in the Surinames€context. First, therc is the aestlrctic production of the oldest inhabitants, the indig_ enous people. They are engaged mainly with plait-work, pottery body-embellishments and woodcarving. They make a clear distinction between ctaftmanship and artistÍy, and every artistic field or Ameflndian group has its own speclallsedartists. According to Frans Malaluwara, an arflst is able to balance the ptrysical and ttre spiritual ln his work in an origtnal and at the same time univetsally understood rnatrneÍ. He oÍ she, therefore, obviously has a ceÍtain degree of individual artistic freedom, but it is impossible, says Malaiuwar4 to cxeateonly for oneself, there is always a strong relationship with the communtty, and there is also a sacÍaldimension to artwoÍk.6 These are exactly the rcasonswhy it is a'most unthinkable to sell these art obiects, or in any other way mmmercialisethem. CËímanship, asopposed to artistÍy, can be recognisedwlrcn an obiect is technically well made, but not in an original way that adds somethtng to the aesthedcexperienceof People.T Afi Aluku htifino$lint tray corveil ín the Although the same geometrical early twentieth century motives and, much scarcer, animal shaped figures are reproduced time and again, s theÍe obviously is room for artistic individualit, local differentiation and stylistic changes over time. These changes would be far greater, says Malaiuwara, if there weÍe more interaction between local and Western ideas of artistsÍ This, however, does hardly occur becauseof the saqal and community embedded dlmensions of ttre artist's woÍk, which makes it almost impossible for him to work rn a completely autonomous Westem way.e This, and the fact that his work as measuted by modem standards in Paramaribo and tlrc greater world is labeled wtth some disdain as 'pdmitive,, probably explains wly that until now no more than a few indigenous artists have dared to exploÍe otheÍ fields of aÍ than the tÍaditional one. Max n den Boschand Winston van der Bok àre rwo exponents of the latter; they explore their indigenous identity in a new aes_ thetic context. Their interaction with other artists in paramadbo, howetet rs nther limited, which might reflect the marginal position of the indigenous population in general, and in any ca$ still keeps tlrem more o! less separate

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from mainstreamdevelopments.This does not mean that the (tradttional) aÍt of the Amerindiansls completelymarginalisedin SuÍínamesesoclety.C)nthc contrary indigenous motives, paintings, woodcarvings and Pottery are becomlng increasinglypopular in Panmadbo's urban olture. ParticulaÍly in the houses of the urban educatedmiddle and hiSher classesof all ethnic groups, except maybe the Hindustani, one may find tÍaditional indigenous art obiects, that are used as decoration, or even as ordinary pieces of furnlofits tnhabttants. ture, which reflect or consclouslyexpÍessthe Surlnameness Traditional art is also made by Maroons, including woodcarvinS, textiles, body art and painted decqration of houses, although the latter Practice ls disappearing rapidly now. All Marcons are considered to be artists, yet there has always been some kind of specialisation ln the sensethat some are more talented than othe$ and are therefore asked for help and advice. Since the exodus in the 1970s,touÍism and the related ultirnate penetÍation of the money economy hd/e led to the emergenceof full-time professional artists, particularly in the field of woodcaMng.ro Marcon woodcaMng was often considered to be a typical African art from,rr Researchby Sally and Richard Price and others, however, have shown that it vias a New Wotld creatlon which only had its begtnntngs duÍing the early nineteenth century mole thall a century afteÍ tlle first Maroon groups had settled in the interior.e Since that time changes in style and technique have been contlnuous and differing locall, rnaking it possible to constmct a Maroon art history.'3 This shows, for example, a marked tendency fuom the figurattve to the abstmct and the develoPment of strictly symmetdc and very complex motives. Popular - and scholarly - belief has it that all these motlves and symbols have an erotic connotation. In a rather hilarious wat Sally Pdce has shown that Maroons themselves are sometlmes higt y surprird by such otplanatioÍls, and that naybe tlrcy say more about the explainers than about the explained.r SeveralgeneÍal features of aÍistry have been observedin Maroon life: 'the perllasi!€ influence of aesthetic considerations in all areasof life [. .]; the actlve partlcipation of all adults ln a wide range of artistic endeavors,and the entoyment of dlscusslonsdevoted to all aspectsof artistry and aesthetic e!"aluation'.É In these discussions the individual ori8inality of the obiect and its Ínaker, Éther than the iollowing of Seneral conventions, is stess€d,'ó Maroon att does not seem to have the sacral dimension found in its indlgenous counterpart, which certainly lnfluenced it in some wa'5.t7 Maroon art was,and still ts, matnly pÍoduced asdecorative afi to useasSifts of courtsbip and marriage, or to strengthen bonds of llnship or fÍiendship Art, therefoÍe, was something very personal for tlle maker as well as for the recipient. For a long time this hampered coÍnÍnercialisation. The civil war of the 1980sand its afterrMth, which has uprooted many ard changed so muÓ in MaÍoon societ,

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is probóly, however,one of the main factoE explaining why commercialisation has become more widespreadthan duÍing tlle period when the Pdcesdid thei! research.Some Maroons, especíallymigrants Ín French Guiana, have collectively specialisedin commercial woodcarving and today therc even exists a sÍnall-scaleexport in Marcon aÍ to the US and Eurcpe.'3 Long before tlÉs development, howeve! unique pieces of Maroon art had already found their way to the collections of museums in the Netherlands and the US.r, Like indigenous haditional art, Maroon art has been used too to embellish houses and public buildings of Paramaribo to stess the owners' Surinameness. At present, a few Maroon artists, including An&e Mosis, Cognag Obé and Pakin Kanoeare 'expanding tÍaditional virtuosity', while looking for new forms. Just as tlrcir indigenous colleagues they stay in the margins of the 'modem' Surinameseart world, whether in Suriname or in the Netherlands, although theiÍ 'Sudnameness' is undisputed.a Maybe art historian Gloria I€urs was right when she stated that non-traditional artists in Sudname who were not Maroons or indigenous themselves,were hesitant to admit traditional or 'folk art' influences or characteristics in their work, becausethis might have given it 'a touch of inferiority', in the elrs of the Dutch or the Westem art wotld.rt lf coïect, this was, of couBe, mainly the taumatised colonial perception of Surinameseartists, becausethe much revered European modernism was precisely bas€d on the admission of 'folk art' elements from 'exotic' wotlds. Moreovet this self-perception changed when (cultural) nationalism gained ground since the late 1950s and the search foÍ a national ldentity became a hody debated topic among intellectuals and artists. Forms and contents of Maroon and indigenous oltures have since that time entered the work of prominent academicartlsts such as De VÍies, Woei, or Lie A Fo, none of whom has a Maroon or indigenous background. A final expression of tÍaditional art can be found among Surinameseartists of Asian origin. Decontions, ceremonial obiects and all kinds of religious or mythical figures foÍ publlc buildÍngs like temples, mosquesand clubhouses, as well as for private housesare - if not imported - done by artlsts who work in a tnditional Javanese,Indian or Chinese ídiom. Bhai Soerdian Patochi's giand, father, for example, came from India and Ínade ceremonial ceramics, which probably did not diÍfer much from his own woÍlg only his pottels wheel is now motodsed.z Not much Íesearch. howevet has been done in this field yet,a Since the 1!)60s,a younger generation of artists has emerged who began to explorc new artistic dircctions,without losing touch with their haditional idiom.,i Some, for instance, Waydi Sontowidiojo, stayed quite close to tÍaditional forms, themes and techniques, while others, including Soekidjan Irodikrcmo (artist name 'Soeki'), extensively explored modem aÍt before reinhoducing Eaditional elementsin their work. AccoÍding to Sylvia Gooswil this

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autonomousart' lree ('Í tÍansfoÍmation from traditional, into a more or less background'indicatcs social-ritualbonds, although still inspiÍed by its Asian r' in Surinamesesocicty the glowing inteSlation of, in her case,the Javanese k) be true for the Javanese,it, howeve! hardly aPplics lro",i ttrougn tni, and political eman-lght the Hindustani. TheiÍ urbanisation aswell astheir economic probably furthcr is now and cipation started long before that of the Ja!"nese tte it insignificant' rather is Oevetoped.Ne\ertheless, thet role in the fine arts aside' e'GePtions traditi;nal or in any othe! cateSory leavinS individual and Maroon A siSnificant difference between Asian, and indiSenous and other categonesrs taditional aÍtists is that the line between haditional from theiÍ quite diÍfuse and that the artists Íeceive 'new' traditional impulses Khedoe makes religious 'hornelands'. For instance, sculptor Icishnapersad in her CCS workshop Hatterman by Nola taditional art, but he was tnined receive a formal art to Netherlands (see below), thereafter he went to the in lndia To givc training (traditional) àducation and finally he completed his wasinvited artist' othe! examples,Soeki lrodikromo, certainly not a tladitional later to he applied which to Yogyakarta (Indonesia) to study batik techniques' youngstcr a as Woei went his poiular batii