INSTALLATION



Tropenmuseum | Our Colonial Inheritance
Curaçao Layers
3 part ceiling installation
2022
DIMENSIONS
4 meters by 1 meter diagram



Visual artist Avantia Damberg (1977) lives and works on Curaçao. In her work she focuses on the Curaçao culture and makes it recognizable. History is an important part of this. And Damberg gives it a new look with materials from nature and from everyday life. She is known to the public for, among other things, the colored steps of Otrobanda stairs in Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao. For Our Colonial Heritage, she has created a meter-sized installation consisting of three parts: ceramics, textiles and wood. In doing so, she draws attention to the indigenous population of Curaçao, to the transition from enslaved people to free people and to the resilience that only makes Curaçaoans grow. The work is in the room Fight the power in the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. A room that focuses on the fact that people have rebelled against the colonizing powers from the very beginning. With armed resistance, demonstrations, art, books, language.


About the installation Curaçao Layers

Curaçao Layers of Damberg is made up of three parts. The work starts at the beginning: Part 1 ceramics as a link between then and now. For that reason, a recurring subject in the artist's work is the graphic design in ceramics of the indigenous population of Curaçao: the Caquetíos. And the stamp they left on the civilization of Curaçao when the Spaniards come. “Ceramics are a sustainable material that can go into the future for many years to come. But that also goes back thousands of years in the past.” The first part of the artwork is therefore the graphic design of the Caquetíos on their ceramic vases and bowls, made from shards. The decorations are painted with iron oxide. Material they also used, especially the pre-Caquetíos people who made petroglyphs. Part 2 consists of textiles referring to freedom and possession. This volume contains the Manumission Letters, printed on cloth. On the one hand, such a letter was the document with which you proved to be a free man or woman. On the other hand, such a letter was also the tangible proof that you were once property, and it turns out that you can still be a human being from July 1, 1863 when slavery was abolished in 'the west'. The chosen manumission letters come from the National Archives in Curaçao. The letters contain surnames of the former slave owners and enslaved persons who are common in Curaçao today. Part 3: wood as a sign of flexibility and strength. This part consists of the first and last stanza of the national anthem of Curaçao. Those are usually sung, the abbreviated version. Damberg: “If there is something where we all agree on as a people, it is in the music and then especially in this song, a song of the people. It always makes me emotional, even though it is played on the radio every day at noon, I don't really know why”. The lyrics are still very uplifting and Damberg has previously brought the national anthem into her work. This part is made of wood. “Because wood is a material that is flexible and can only become more beautiful and powerful after many treatments. This fits in with the development of the population of Curaçao.”



INSTALLATION



The Tree of Bortemont
Crêpe paper and cardboard
2022
DIMENSIONS
2,5mx2m



Collage with landscape in the background. Landscape: Bortemont, Belle-Ile, Bretagne, France



INSTALLATION



The Inner Circle
ceramic tiles with names
2019
DIMENSIONS
diagram 120cm



From the older work 'Map of Curacao II' the remainance are put in the inner circle. Is your name in the Inner Circle?



INSTALLATIONS



INTRICATED and CONTROL
MATERIALS
plastic tubes, string, metal
DATE
november 2017
DIMENSIONS
2x1m and 2mx90cm



Making sculpting installations with found (recycled) materials.



INSTALLATIONS



FENCE FOR CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CURACAO
Plastic tubes, wood
DATE
november 2017
DIMENSIONS
2x10m



Assigned to make a fun fence for the Children's Museum of Curaçao. We made it also interactive and fun! Made in collab with Arnold J. Bakker.



INSTALLATIONS



MAP OF CURACAO III
stones, coral stones, ink, acrylic
DATE
november 2017
DIMENSIONS
2x5.5m



The 3rd edition of the Map of Curacao at the Blue Bay Sculpture Park



INSTALLATIONS



Crime Scene
MATERIALS
paper, slippers, chalk
DATE
June 2016
DIMENSIONS
1.5x1.5m



This work is an art installation with black slippers referring to the average 'Jan met de pet' of Curaçao. The slippers on the back have dates written on them, dates of the death of people who got sick from pollution. In a way it's a crime scene, but how much crime scene investigations has been really done? How much more years can the pollution freely continue? Each death caused by the pollution of ISLA, is one too much.



INSTALLATIONS



Map of Curaçao 2nd Edition
a floating ceramic installation
MATERIALS
aluminium, ceramic
DATE
May 2016
DIMENSIONS
4.5x 1.8meters



This is the second edition of Map of Curaçao and found it's way into public space. It's hanging in the public registry office in Curaçao the ideal place for it to be.



INSTALLATIONS



Map of Curaçao
a paper graffiti and sound installation
MATERIALS
adhesive paper, speakers, mp3player
DATE
February 2014
DIMENSIONS
2.7x3.2meters



MAP OF CURACAO is about how the country Curaçao is shaped by everyone who came to this rock to settle and start a life. Purely to survive, for economical reasons, for religious freedom of just for a better life. Family names since 1863 until 2014.

The ‘Map of Curaçao’ is a map consisting of two elements: surnames that came into existence on this island (the underlined names) plus surnames of people from this island who originally came from overseas.

Together they form the population of Curaçao. The names are placed at the locations where the name came into existence or where they started building their new lives.

I have used the names that still exist today. This map is not accurate and should not be seen as of any scientific historical value, but rather as an expression of how new identities have been brought about by freedom. Freedom – not only for the slaves, but also the freedom to live on this island without being persecuted, or the freedom to build a new life which came about because of economic opportunities. All these factors made the Curaçao we know today, and Curaçao still attracts many nationalities to build a life here. Looking at the mix of names tells us this island is of the free, an island of new beginnings.

Is your family name written on the island? What is the history of your surname? With your name comes your freedom and your new position in the world.


Thanks to Aubert Wiels, Elia Isenia, Jean Henriquez, Allan Chatlein (the voice-over of the names) the public library, the national archives and the Mongui Maduro Library.