Blind Spots

Tracing identity and championing untold histories.

The rich, vast cultural landscape demands a larger discussion on reclaiming identity. How can we confront stereotypes, clichés and representation within our community?
Jonathas de Andrade, Foam video interview, 2022

The Power of Play

How can art effect change? Foam curator Hinde Haest reflects on the exhibition Jonathas de Andrade Staging Resistance, alongside the methods and multiple dynamics within the artist's work. By collaborating with local communities, the artist questions the power relations that are at play in his native Brazil, and in the world at large.

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Heroínas de Tejucupapo (Tejucupapo Heroins, 2022) © Jonathas de Andrade, courtesy of the artist

Try out the ABC da Cana typewriter

ABC da Cana typewriter is a browser-based application that allows you to type a short message with the photograhps of the ABC da Cana series by artist Jonathas de Andrade. The performance of the letters of the alphabet can also be seen as a commentary on the level of illiteracy in rural Brazil.

try me
ABC da Cana Typewriter © Jonathas de Andrade | Foam Amsterdam

Podcast with Jonathas de Andrade

In conversation with performance scholar Diana Taylor, Jonathas de Andrade gives us an insight into his creative process, his work and the way his practice has led him to better understand and intervene with his present reality in Brazil.

Jessica de Abreu's Bookshelf: The Black Archives

Image of Jessy's Room © Wouter Pocornie

The Black Archives is a historical archive and cultural centre, located in Amsterdam’s East and the Black historical neighbourhood Bijlmer, where people can go for inspiring conversations, substantive activities and access books from Black and other perspectives that often remain underexposed elsewhere.

Jessica de Abreu

Foam invites Johny Pitts and Gloria Wekker

Still image from Foam invites: Johny Pitts and Gloria Wekker
20:43

What does Afropean mean and how can it be defined? Photographer and journalist Johny Pitts is joined by professor and anthropologist Gloria Wekker as they discuss the term and reflect on his images made in Amsterdam.

Double Play: on Unbé t'aweró by Gilleam Trapenberg

"Even though we are on an island, there are no vistas in Unbé t'aweró. We're looking very closely - if only we know how to see it."

Curator Mirjam Kooiman writes about the series Unbé t'aweró by Gilleam Trapenberg.

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Dos Pouwis, 2021 © Gilleam Trapenberg, courtesy of the artist

zooming in with Foam Talents Plantation and Lisandro Suriel

Still from Zooming In: Photography, Performance and the Mythical
1:14:29

In Photography, Performance and the Mythical, artist-archivist Angela N. Carroll speaks to Foam Talents Plantation (Ayomide Tejuoso) and Lisandro Suriel on how photography can act as a powerful tool in constructing cultural identity.

view the work in Foam Talent 2021 Digital

Discover the series Portraits in Madness by Plantation (Ayomide Tejuoso) and Ghost Island by Lisandro Suriel in the digital exhibition.

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From the series Portraits in Madness © Plantation courtesy of the artist

Foam is supported by the VriendenLoterij, Foam Members, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, the VandenEnde Foundation and Gemeente Amsterdam.

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Blind Spots