Slavery has played a role in many societies and periods throughout history and still exists today. Not My Soul explores stories of slavery, law, and freedom in antiquity and in Suriname.
The exhibition sheds new light on objects from the archaeological and Surinamica collections of the Allard Pierson Museum. Their stories have long been told through the lens of power: emperors, plantation owners and colonial rulers. Those are stories about wealth, power, and domination. Behind this lies a reality of dehumanization, exploitation, and forced labour endured by countless enslaved people.
This exhibition places the stories of enslaved people at the centre. They were people who were deprived of their freedom but who, despite everything, retained their humanity: through their work, creativity, care, language, love, and resistance.
This exhibition was created in partnership with the National Slavery Museum which will open its doors in a couple of years in Amsterdam.
Through handprints, we show the tension between an institutional system that reduced people to property and the undeniable individuality of each person who was enslaved.
Client
Allard Pierson
Exhibition design
Harm Rensink
Photography
Anwyn Howarth