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Dutch Pavilion 58th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia
HANNIBAL
VB_TMOP_omslag_VISUALISATIE.indd 1 11/04/19 18:29
CONTENTS
7 Foreword Eelco van der Lingen 8 Acknowledgements Benno Tempel, Remy Jungerman, Iris Kensmil 9 The Measurement of Presence Benno Tempel 17 Rietveld Pavilion: The Measurement of Presence Part 1 33 Remy Jungerman: ‘To Say Without Saying’: Abstraction and the Black Atlantic Allison K. Young 51 Iris Kensmil: Conditions of Practice and the Reimagining of Modernity Nick Aikens 65 Regarding Maroon Spectres, Winti Aesthetics and Afropean Fugitivities in the Post-Mondrian/ Thelonious Monastic Art Practice of Remy Jungerman Gregory Tate 79 A Conversation between Iris Kensmil and Willem de Rooij 89 Rietveld Pavilion: The Measurement of Presence Part 2 105 Archival Voices of Black Women Jessica de Abreu 113 Visiting Deities Benno Tempel 121 Rietveld Pavilion: The Measurement of Presence Part 3 137 The (Trans-national) Measurement of (Black) Presence Paul Goodwin 147 Notes on the Absence of Black-ness Charl Landvreugd 155 The Elephant on the Road to Venice Jelle Bouwhuis 163 Biographies 165 Curriculum Vitae Iris Kensmil 169 Curriculum Vitae Remy Jungerman 173 Contributors 174 Image Credits 175 Colophon
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ARCHIVAL VOICES OF BLACK WOMEN
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JESSICA DE ABREU
Colonialism established a certain order.1 Our society is divided between those who feel happy within this order and those who feel disturbed by it. In their body, mind and soul, the latter know how colonial structures survived through time. During the Venice Biennale, Iris Kensmil presents eight portraits of Black women committed to ideals and hope: a utopia. They provide us with notions, questions and theories about inequalities and injustices to inform a better future. How does it feel to be surrounded by these Black women? Whether you know them or not, for every beholder their presence brings up memories. These are women who contributed to our societies, cultures, sciences and arts, but the world could be more welcoming to what they offered. Although Black women are tired of the racism and sexism that influence their lives, heroines such as Hermina Huiswoud (see ill. p. 107), Amy Ashwood Garvey, Claudia Jones, Suzanne Césaire, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Octavia E. Butler and Sister Nancy persisted in sharing their ideas. Some call it activism, many of us call it survival. Within archives, Black women carry hidden voices of intergenerational resistance – a history unknown by too many of us. In general, archives reflect the voices of those who are seen as important. However, less is known about the power of silence.2 From the days of slavery, our bodies became subjects who were not allowed to speak despite the injustices and violence that demanded
to be spoken of.3 What would we learn if these women could speak and respond to each other? How would we imagine their exchange in a Black feminist conversation? It is in Kensmil’s portraits that Black women become voices. I want to address these voices before they become silences within our collective memory, before they are passed on from one generation to the next – neglected, forgotten and lost. For Black women, filling these historical archival gaps is hard, but living in these ‘gaps’ is even worse. THE CLASS STRUGGLE In our conversation, we meet Hermina Huiswoud as a woman who observes. She is quiet but thoughtful. She knows that despite these archival silences, it is impossible to erase what colonized people have witnessed. Hermina ‘Hermie’ Huiswoud was born in 1905 in British Guiana, where she saw the colonial conditions in her country. This experience developed a foundation for her political awareness as a Black communist in the 1920s. After migrating to New York in 1919, she immersed herself in the influential circles that flourished in the Harlem Renaissance. In 1 Ania Loomba, Colonialism/ a time when racial discrimination and oppression Postcolonialism (London: terrorized African Americans, this artistic political Routledge, 2005). 2 Rodney G.S. Carter, ‘Of Things movement played an important role in express- Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival ing what it meant to be Black in the US. Between Silences, and Power in Silence’, the 1920s and 1940s, she joined the Communist Archivaria 61, 2006. 3 Grada Kilomba, Plantation Party of America, worked as a writer and as a dis- Memories: Episodes of Everyday tributor of The Negro Worker, and travelled as a Racism (Münster: Unrast, 2008). professional revolutionary.4 Between both World 4 Joyce Moore Turner and W. Burghardt Turner, Caribbean Cru Wars, she recognized how history repeated itself: saders and the Harlem Renaissance ‘History proves that Imperialist wars have all been (Urbana: U of Illinois P, 2005).
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fought on a “legitimate” excuse. The slaughter of millions of native colonial masses has been done all for the cause of and in defence of “Christianity” and “Civilization”.’5 After travelling for the communist struggle, Hermina eventually moved to Amsterdam in the late 1940s with her Suriname-born husband and co-founder of the Communist Party USA, Otto Huiswoud, after he was denied entry into the US. As the Dutch and US intelligence services followed her on both sides of the Atlantic, it shows that her political ideas were perceived as dangerous and could mobilize people against those in power.6 She was part of a generation of Black women communists who can be seen as the forerunners of intersectional thinking, which describes how all oppression is connected.7 BLACK LEADERSHIP Throughout Black history, ideologies served as different ways of thinking about our freedom, our utopia. Born in 1897 in Jamaica, Amy Ashwood Garvey (see ill. p. 87), a Pan-Africanist and feminist, appreciated Hermina’s class analysis but explained she had less faith in a working-class struggle that transcends race. She commented on how power still lies in the hands of the Western/European world. She agreed that radical change was necessary to improve the living conditions of Black people, but Garvey’s focus was on unifying people of African descent under Black leadership and less on class solidarity. Black communists saw how ‘race’ and class were inextricably linked to their oppression. However, Garveyites were more concerned with organizing Black communities through political and economic self-reliance within the existing structure of capitalism.8 Around the age of 12, Amy Ashwood discovered her lineage, which could be traced back to the West African nation of the Ashanti. She never knew about slavery, she felt confused when she heard about it at school. At that time, her father decided to send her to her grand- 5 Helen Davis (H. Huiswoud), mother, Grannie Dabas, whose words filled her with ‘The Approaching War of pride as she learned about her ancestry. She recalls “Defence”’, The Negro Worker, New York City, op. cit. (note 4), 1934, p. 5. ‘a fiery feeling engulfed me, which threatened to 6 Turner and Turner, op. cit. choke and smother me, and I suddenly knew the (note 4). meaning of race, and felt the power of Blood. From 7 Erik S. McDuffie, Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, this time onwards I nursed a passion in my heart for American Communism, and the 9 Africa. I dreamt dreams and built castles in the air’. Making of Black Left Feminism In her dreams, she worked towards a utopia in her (Durham: Duke UP, 2011). 8 Tony Martin, Amy Ashwood own way by working on Marcus Garvey’s Universal Garvey: Pan-Africanist, Feminist, Negro Improvement Association, founding the and Mrs. Marcus Garvey Wife No. 1, newsp aper The Negro World and directing the Or, A Tale of Two Amies (Dover: Majority Press, 2007). Black Star Line steamship corporation.10 Ashwood 9 Ibid. embraced the African continent and critiqued 10 Ibid.
Iris Kensmil, The New Utopia Begins Here: Hermina Huiswoud, 2019, oil on canvas, 155 × 105 cm
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Dutch Pavilion 58th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia
HANNIBAL
VB_TMOP_omslag_VISUALISATIE.indd 1 11/04/19 18:29