Public exhibition by Kurt Nahar in collaboration with Marcel Pinas
Theme December 8 murders
Location: Gardens of Fort Zeelandia/ opening December 8th 2009
In his art Kurt Nahar focuses primarily on socially and politically motivated themes that are of great influence on the Surinamese community. The period before and after the revolution of 1980, the December-murders of 1982, the war in the interior and the many victims of this violent period in the history of the country, play an important role in the artistic expressions of Nahar. Kurt Nahar spent a three month residency at the Rijksacademie in the Netherlands, from March until May 2009, with the specific purpose to perform detailed research on this subject. His research resulted in a substantial amount of new information which Kurt Nahar has since incorporated in many of his recent Works of art. In order to share this information with the Surinamese public and particularly to confront the younger generation with this part of history of which they know so little, Nahar presents, starting on December 8th, a public exhibition on grounds of Fort Zeelandia. The exhibition is a collaborative effort between the artists Kurt Nahar and Marcel Pinas, another well known Surinamese artist whose work deals with the subject of human rights violations in Suriname. Also contributing is artist Ravi Rajcoomar who is responsible for the audio during the exhibition.
Through his art Kurt Nahar commands attention for exactly those subjects that are consciously and subconsciously avoided by many; he forces people to think about and talk about difficult issues and brings past injustices and violations of human rights out of oblivion. Artist Marcel Pinas has a similar mission. He concentrates primarily on the plight of Maroon and Indigenous communities who were deeply affected by the war in the interior. Both artists play an essential role in the process of raising awareness amongst the youth of Suriname and that is also the purpose of this December 8th exhibition at Fort Zeelandia.
Nahar uses numbers and letters which have a special significance within the theme. The location, Fort Zeelandia, has its own charged significance to the whole as well. The work by Kurt Nahar is strongly symbolic and will undoubtedly bring up a number of questions. He challenges the public to “decipher” the work and by doing so to find out the truth. His work consists out of twenty-five posters, attached to trees, made up out of reproduced artworks to which the initials of the 15 victims, other symbolic abbreviations and related poems have been added. In addition to the de posters by Kurt Nahar, artist Marcel Pinas will create 15 large wreaths out of traditional Maroon pangi textiles, to pay respect to the victims of December 8th, 1982.
This exhibition in commemoration of the victims of December 8th 1982 is free for the public. The purpose of the exhibition is to provide information and to increase the awareness of the public, but in particular amongst the youth.
For more information please contact Readytex Art Gallery. Ph: 421750
E-mail: info@readytexartgallery.com
Read also:
http://paramaribospan.blogspot.com/2010/02/notes-on-monuments-and-moments.html