Photo and Copyright Iris Kensmil: Exhibition of Iris Kensmil in the Stedelijk museum
Iris Kensmil is one of the artists who is selected to exhibit in the temporary opened Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
The work she exhibits in the Stedelijk is inspired by Adjankoeso, the village head of a group of Surinamese Maroons in the early 20th century. Adjankoeso wrote a letter to the secretary of the League of Nations in which he expressed his joy over the end of World War I.
The Stedelijk Museum has one of the richest modern art collections in the world. The exhibition is named The Temporary Stedelijk at the Stedelijk Museum. It's temporarily because the museum has been closed for renovations for years. Exhibition date: 28 August 2010 – 9 January 2011.
For this special occasion the museum comes out with two exhibitions: Taking Place and Monumentalisme. Iris Kensmil exhibits her work together with 18 other artists in Monumentalisme. In this exhibition artists reflect on history and identity.
These themes aren’t new to Kensmil. Topics such as negritude, the African Diaspora, and the position of black people in the society are key elements of her work.Kensmil (1970) was born in the Netherlands and is from Surinamese Origin. She has won several scholarships, and has just returned from a long stay in New York.
In the newspaper Parool Kensmil explains why colour is so important in her work: "There is a very large group of Surinamese and Antilleans, and they are part of this society. I suppose that as white person you think: where do these people come from?"
Read the Dutch the article here.
A video of the opening of the exhibit.