Draden van ons Nederlandse Slavernijverleden (2025)

In every province of the Netherlands, residents are working together on an impressive tapestry that depicts the regional history of the colonial slavery past. For Gelderland, artist and curator Richard Kofi designed a tapestry no less than 35 meters long, which expresses both history and hope for the future.

Now it’s the residents of Gelderland’s turn to create the tapestry in sections, using techniques like embroidery, quilting, punching, and tufting. Once completed, the tapestry will travel throughout the province.

Starting in April 2025, you can participate at various locations in Gelderland, including the Valkhof Museum in Nijmegen, Flipje en Streekmuseum in Tiel, and CODA in Apeldoorn. Whether you’re experienced in textile techniques or not, young or older: everyone from age 15 is welcome to join! Contribute to this monumental tapestry about Gelderland’s history of slavery. Meet new people, or come with friends, family, or neighbors (no prior textile experience is necessary, but of course it’s welcome).

Locations

• Library Culemborg

• Library Gelderland Zuid / Mariënburg

• Library Veenendaal

• CODA Apeldoorn

• De Vlindertuin

• Elisabeth Weeshuis Museum

• Flipje en Streekmuseum

• Museum Arnhem

• Netherlands Open Air Museum

• Het Loo Palace

• Rozet

• Valkhof Museum

• Wageningen University & Research

History and context Slavery and colonialism are deeply intertwined with Gelderland’s history. As early as 1594, a merchant from Zutphen transported enslaved people to Cape Verde. Although Gelderland’s cities didn’t have their own VOC or WIC chambers, Gelderland’s leaders were active as administrators and investors in these colonial ventures.

Profits from slavery and forced labor expanded country estates like Ampsen, Middachten, and Rosendael. Sometimes, African servants worked there too, though only a few are known by name. Traces of this past can be found in archives, paintings, and in today’s society: descendants of both enslaved people and slave owners now live in Gelderland.

When slavery was abolished in the Dutch East Indies in 1859 and in Suriname and the Antilles in 1863, slave owners received compensation, but the freed people received nothing and in Suriname were even forced to continue working on the plantations for another ten years.

Gelderland was also home to returning colonials, KNIL soldiers, and colonial institutions. The colonial past is not far away—it’s in our names, buildings, histories, and our present.

The history of slavery was mostly written by the powerful: slave traders, colonial administrators, and plantation owners. The voices of enslaved people are rarely heard. But traces do exist—in archives, on maps, in memories. Small fragments that, with care and knowledge, can be brought together to tell a fuller story.

One example is Anna van Vossenburg, of whom we know only from the papers of her owners. Searching between the lines is where the strength lies: to give people back a face and a voice.

Water Holds Memory Last summer, I took part in the art project Water Holds Memory. This was important for my design for the tapestry I created for Threads of our Dutch Slavery Past, Gelderland edition.

During the Water Holds Memory residency, artists, writers, researchers, and curators came together. We talked about our work and how we’re connected. We reflected on memory, art, and how we can shape the future.

Water played a key role in these conversations. Many well-known Black artists use water as a symbol. Paul Gilroy’s theory of The Black Atlantic is central here. He argues that Black culture should not only be studied within national borders, but globally; everything is connected through the ocean.

Wherever it emerges, Black culture is always created through interaction, exchange, and connection with influences from other countries.

Another scholar, Rinaldo Walcott, expanded on this theory. He called it The Black Aquatic, seeing water not only as a symbol of connection but also as the starting point of Black existence. According to him, this began during the transatlantic slave trade, when Africans were seen as “property.” He argues that the legacy of slavery still shapes the world today.

Christina Sharpe also explores these ideas. She calls it The Wake—a ritual where grief, memory, and struggle come together. Some of these ideas are heavy, but they help me think about my role as an artist. Can I also use water differently? Not just as a symbol of pain, but also of strength and transformation?

Afrofuturism: creating the future In my work, I draw on Afrofuturism, an art form that brings together Black history, fantasy, and the future. It allows us to look at the past in new ways. For example, writer Octavia E. Butler used stories of time travel and magic to create new worlds.

The myth of Drexciya For my tapestry design, I found inspiration in the modern myth of Drexciya. This is a story about an underwater world, created by the children of pregnant women who were thrown overboard during the Middle Passage. They survived and built their own world under the sea. In my design, you see women in the water. They are not victims, but powerful ancestors. The waves transform the sea from a place of pain into a place of strength.

Buildings and heritage linked to slavery are also flooded in my work.

A different view of Fort Elmina I also included Fort Elmina in my design. This fort was used for the slave trade. People were locked up there for months before being shipped to the Americas. But I turned the image around. The sea floods the fort. I transformed the Door of No Return into a Door of Return—a gateway to connection, strength, and memory. This fort is also relevant to Gelderland because of its link to the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) and Bronbeek in Arnhem.

The Ashanti King and Belanda Hitam Since this project is all about local and personal relationships to the slavery past, I wanted my personal reflections on my Ghanaian heritage to be part of this tapersty as well. When the Netherlands was looking for new soldiers to suppress uprisings in Indonesia, the Dutch government made a deal with the Ashanti king Kwaka Dua I, shown in my design. He supplied men for the KNIL in exchange for weapons. They were called Belanda Hitam—Black Dutchmen. This was a disguised form of slavery, where enslaved people were also forced to become soldiers, even though the slave trade had officially been abolished by then. They had to fight in Indonesia and pay for their own freedom.

Historical figures I also included various historical figures in my design, all real people found in archives.

• Anna van Vossenburg: from Suriname to Arnhem Anna was born into slavery on the Vossenburg plantation in Suriname. As a child, she was brought to the Netherlands. She lived in Arnhem and worked in the home of the wealthy Brantsen family. In my design, you see her spirit, together with other women who worked on the plantation. They rise from the water near Zypendaal manor. The water connects Suriname with the Netherlands and reveals their stories.
  

• Quaco’s View Quaco was a boy from Ghana who was sold as a child and came via Suriname to the Netherlands. He worked as a servant for a man who wrote books and made drawings about slavery. Eventually, he ended up at Rosendael Castle. In my drawing, you see Quaco above the castle, looking over the landscape. He sees the images of violence he witnessed as a child. Quaco was not just a child—he was considered property, a “valuable” product in a colonial system.
  

• Christina Marta and Roosje: women in the water Roosje sits on a rock in the water. She wears the coat of a man who once painted her. He’s gone, but she remains. Next to her is the spirit of Christina Marta, an ancestor in the water. Their stories are tied to Banda, an island in Indonesia where much violence occurred during the spice trade. Dutch traders seized the island and built plantations there. Roosje’s name appears in archives in different forms. Sometimes Roosje, sometimes another name. Her true story was hidden for a long time. But in my work, she finds her own place, in the water, between strength and memory.

Organization Library Culemborg, Library Gelderland Zuid / Mariënburg, Library Veenendaal, CODA Apeldoorn, Comité 30 June – 1 July Arnhem, De Vlindertuin, Elisabeth Weeshuis Museum, Flipje en Streekmuseum, Museum Arnhem, Netherlands Open Air Museum, Het Loo Palace, Rozet, Valkhof Museum, Wageningen University & Research.

Threads of our Dutch Slavery Past brings people together and raises awareness of history and local heritage. By breaking down the national historical narrative of the colonial slavery past into regional stories, history comes closer to home. The project was initiated by Ricardo Burgzorg and is organized by Stichting Villa Maecenatis.