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Opening Surinamese Wedding Portraits

Come and celebrate the opening of the new exhibition Surinamese Wedding Portraits on 23 June in the presence of guest curator Lucia Nankoe, the initiator of this exhibition. Join the festive opening from 17.30 hrs onwards with free entrance and drinks. The official opening is at 18.00 hrs.

About the exhibition

Surinamese Wedding Portraits consist of more than one hundred wedding photos and many family histories. Together they tell the story of countless personal bonds that cross borders, ethnicity or religion. This did not always go down smoothly, yet most lovers followed the path of their hearts and love generally triumphed over the spirit of the times.

The family stories are often connected with important themes that characterize the colonial history of Suriname: slavery, contract labour, immigration and emigration, conflict and struggle. But the stories also talk about personal bonds, diversity and unity. For that reason, the photographs are not only of great significance to the people whose family histories were immortalised, but they also show a shared (inter)national history.

The follow up to the publication Wedding Portraits (Trouwportretten) will be published in June this year: Photo Stories from the Surinamese Past 1868-1950 (Fotovertellingen uit het Surinaamse verleden 1868-1950). The book is available in Dutch and for sale in the museum shop.

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Gaitri Sweeb © Aldith Hunkar

We wish to thank the descendants who made their photographs available for this exhibition.

This exhibition was created in collaboration with guest curator Lucia Nankoe. Foam also thanks Gerard Sweep and Astrid Waltmans for their support.

The book Trouwportretten. Surinaamse Voorouders in Beeld. Album 1846-1950 was published by Uitgeverij In de Knipscheer in 2019. A follow-up book will be published later this year.

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


Lang Kort C Denise Kort en Erny Kort.jpg

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Opening Surinamese Wedding Portraits