Sarojini Lewis

video, performance, international, installation, photographs, Diaspora, Autobiographical, Artistic research, Archives

Sarojini Lewis (India / Netherlands) 1984 has a background in Fine Art (MFA Fine Art Edinburgh University) with a specialization in archival photography, video art and book arts. She is currently working as a curator, researcher and artist. Her ongoing PhD research in visual studies examines the indentured labor archive through a contemporary lens.
Her projects reveal a preoccupation with history: of the landscape, the city, the environment and its user. She questions what unites men in particular their cultural diversity, what kinds of views are present. Recurring elements in her visual research are photographs of objects, people, migration and moments that reveal forgotten situations, and function as visual traces and fragments that create narratives that lead to new perspectives.

**Why do you have a face like Sopropo?** - Why do you have a Face like Sopropo? was inspired by the project Lewis undertook in 2015 when she was in search of archival images from the documented journey of missionaries based close by a village in Dresden. While undertaking the research she encountered Kerela in the 'shops' with Indian and Pakistani workers, she imagined the journeys of the vegetables from India to Germany similar as that of her ancestors has undertaken more than a hundred years ago. While accumulating images of the Kerela she uses letters, email conversations exchanges with fellow neighbor Rabiya to discover the expressions that Kerela carries. (A bitter emotion and bitter face so to speak) The bitter gourd has a strong taste that can be associated with the history of migration that carries an emotional 'silence'. The separation from loved one's and the displacement did carry along a bitter 'aftertaste'. While contemplating food one can immediately associate with the street food in Kruiskade Rotterdam, the Hindustani community and their intersecting stories with Creole community and the everyday of consuming the food. Yet the more emotional layer that can be associated with bitter gourd is something more mysterious and unresolved that leads to a deeper association with the history of migration and it's emotional spectrum. The installation for the exhibition consists of photographic explorations with the Sopropo as well as a selection of archival images. The work has been made from 2015 until 2021 over in three locations, New Delhi, Paramaribo and Rotterdam.

**Room 327 in the aftermath of Holi** - I started living in a room in a flat named Koyna Hostel with only female Indian students in 2015 and got to know its corners and moldy cupboards throughout the years. Despite its dustiness the room gave me quietness. Two bodies share a room of 5 square meters and only after spending some time with several roommates I got used. Sharing a bedroom space meant to be sharing your personal space. Someone to consult through the maze of paperwork that one is confronted with on a daily basis as part of an administration that often confuses its students by surreal instructions. The red brick balcony overlooking the trees and other buildings in the University campus provided me a certain grounded feeling. Early mornings one would wake up by the noises of cricket players and a man on a bicycle selling curt. At nights the barking of dogs kept me awake, the gecko without tail used to crawl around on the balcony as silent companion. During the PhD research in New Delhi on the visuals of female migrants of Bhojpuri indentured labourers, I searched for archival material as an evidence of this Caribbean migration. Often I came across schematic colonial documents with figures on the deaths and illnesses of the migrants. This abstract colonial reality clashed with my emotional connection and relationship with this history. Similar as the traces of Holi celebration, history remains as a touch of powder layered on the skin. Tangible memories shaped a contrast with the elusiveness of my ancestors' personal history. The collection of archival material are from several institutions National Archives of Suriname, - India as well as - Mauritius and the National Archives of London. Self-portraits on days of Holi are combined with some colonial documents I found. I investigate how colonization overtime has led to sexual exploitation and physical exhaustion, evident in some schedules of colonial representations on diseases on board the ships during the three month transportation from India to Suriname. During generations of cultural festivals such as Holi remained an important festival for the Indo-Caribbean community as a form to resist cultural domination from the other yet there are nuances in how its celebrated. The well known bright colors of Holi sometimes conceal a more embittered past that I never heard my Surinamese grandparents speak about. Personally, with my body as a holder of genetics apart from this Indian migration and containing the traces of Holi colors on the surface I see a two sided message. Juxtaposing observations that Bhojpuri female migrants are always depicted as decorative objects in the photographic representations of the colonial era (postcard images and photo studios) or victims of a system are present in my mind. In the current climate surrounding the Indo-Caribbean community, there is little authentic personal representation of identity. I photographed my own body on the day of Holi for four years in my room at Jawaharlal Nehru University of New Delhi. In the Holi self-portraits I pay attention to my own bodily positions and my identification with indentured labour. The first experience of this celebration in India reminded me that there is a physical aspect of touch involved. In a conflicted way, the body is on the one hand the reference to the working body (labouring bodies) through colonial documents, and on the other hand the tactile reminder of a celebration of Holi. A dairy of bodily traces throughout the years. A cycle of making myself vulnerable by documenting traces on my body, the intimacy of touch and the embodied experience of faded fingerprints, an emotion that can be felt through the daylight of the passed day, my facial expression and the fragility of exposing my body. Characteristic of this repeated ritual is the contrasts of the organic traces of Holi colors with the abstraction of rectangular schemes of the colonial documents.

**From Surviving To Thriving** - In July 2020 three artists from Rotterdam with a shared history and diverse artistic skills and visions, decided to collaborate. We met after in the semi-permanent exhibition 'Crossroads' for which Sarojini Lewis made an art installation in Wereldmuseum titled: 'Why do you have a face like a Sopropo?' For the project 'From Surviving to Thriving' we aimed to bring together creative works of various artists of Indo-Surinamese descent. We felt the importance of highlighting these unique perspectives and experiences, as growing up in The Netherlands we have all felt the heavy absence of black-and people of color in the arts. We noticed a lack of visual representation while trying to pursue a career in the arts with a migrant background. Traces of our backgrounds are left by our ancestors who once departed by boat from Calcutta in India to arrive in Paramaribo, Suriname (1973-1916). We had several conversations in which we discussed various gender sensitive experiences besides being Indo-Surinamese. With 'From Surviving to Thriving' we create a platform for South Asians, having in mind a complex history of indentured labour, who courageously disrupt dominant narratives. - Sarojini Lewis

**Reciting Footsteps** - The project Reciting Footsteps aims to make connections to the plantation ground by historical documents such as archival contract of my ancestor (Hasowa Magai) that migrated from India to Suriname during the time of indentured labor (1873-1920). Besides this I want to trace several pages from archival missionary diaries (1862) describing the period after abolition of slavery. The idea is that the archival narratives of Magai starts a dialogue. By making 4 creative steps that are based on various elements in my practice such as video-work, photography and performance I create a basis for an installation. The steps consist of activating the pages of a diary and Sutterlin script, document the plantation ground, sound recordings of women in Suriname, bodily engagement on plantation ground.

**Reciting Footsteps of a Female Migrant Soerdi** - The exhibition is curated and created by researcher and artist Sarojini Lewis. In the period 2021-2023, she conducted research in the KB into the history of migration (1873-1920) of Indian female contract workers (Hindostanis) in Suriname. She alternated her research period at the KB with work periods in Suriname. Lewis's research focused on the period after the abolition of slavery and the transition to indentured servitude. The exhibition was partly realized with the support of the Mondriaan Fund in the context of the Commemoration Year of the History of Slavery. Female perspective The starting point for Sarojini Lewis's research in the KB was the extensive book West Indian contract workers in Suriname: 1863-1899 (Paramaribo, 2014). In it she found the details of the first woman who emigrated from India via Barbados to Suriname as a contract worker in 1868. This woman, named Soerdie, and her daughter survived the grim conditions on the t'Vertrouwen plantation for a long time, where a group of seventeen Indian contract workers were put to work. During this time there was high mortality of women, newborns and children due to exploitation and unsanitary conditions on the plantations (HE Lamur, 2014). The information about this migrant named Soerdie inspired the artist to conduct further research. She also found other rare documents in the KB from the period before the abolition of slavery until the transition to Indian contract labor in Suriname (1820-1873). Using books, letters and travel reports from that time, the artist uses photos and videos with performance art as 'embodiment' to depict the Soerdie woman and her possible situations on the plantation. With this, the artist wants to offer a different narrative on colonial history from a female perspective. The result of this search is the exhibition Reciting Footsteps of a Female Migrant: Soerdie. Lewis says: “In a process of embodiment and the visual side of documents, I integrated my body with the environment of decay of (former) plantation lands in Suriname. Self-portraits that I make in response to the sources and archives in the library are in line with 'Critical Fabulations, or 'Critical speculation' according to the concept of Saidiya Hartman; a way to transform the numbers and schematic representation of history into missing stories. By looking critically at the facts but also giving a place to human emotion, I depicted fragments of Soerdie's life.” A visual narrative with intertwined rituals in Suriname. During her research of almost three years, she worked on various plantation lands in Suriname on a photo series with which she uses images to connect with the data she found in the KB. In addition to the photographic documentation, Lewis made short video fragments in which certain rituals were performed as a healing process. She combined this with 'embodiment' of her body in combination with encounters with other Surinamese people in a place that is charged with historical formation. What is the story of these places in present-day Suriname, how can we tell intertwined stories between Afro-Surinamese, indigenous and Hindustani individuals? The blue that can be seen in one of the statues in the KB-Atelier was made in Nieuw Amsterdam in collaboration with visual artist Miguel Keerveld in Suriname and is often associated with Afro-Surinamese culture. The statue symbolizes the passing on of rituals, Lewis was also bathed as a baby with bluing by her mother and this tradition continues with her own daughter and is part of both indigenous and Hindustani culture. It is striking that when Soerdie lived there was a high birth mortality in addition to the many contract workers who died young during or after giving birth to their child.

**A Watchful Eye** - The Rijksmuseum is marking the 150th anniversary of the arrival in Suriname of the first Indian indentured laborers with a display of 30 photographs and objects from the first generations. Rijksmuseum curator Eveline Sint Nicolaas compiled this display in partnership with Sarojini Lewis, an artist and researcher specializing in the position of female Indian indentured laborers in Suriname. The display pays particular attention to the female perspective within the community that developed in Suriname following the abolition of slavery. "THE POWERFUL PHOTOGRAPHS HELP YOU IMAGINE WHAT LIFE MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE FOR FEMALE INDIAN INDENTURED WORKERS. THE PICTURES ARE WINDOWS ONTO THE REALITY OF THIS COLONIAL HISTORY." S. Lewis On 5 June 2023 it was exactly 150 years since the Lalla Rookh docked in Suriname carrying the first indentured laborers from India. It was just weeks before the end of the Dutch state-run scheme that obliged formerly enslaved people to continue working for plantation owners for a further ten years after the abolition of slavery. Plantation owners in the country were urgently searching for a new workforce. The Indian migrants (known as 'Hindustanis' in Suriname) were hoping that their five-year contract would enable them to liberate their family back home from famine. Contrary to what was promised, life in Suriname also consisted of poverty, exploitation and violence. Although employers were mainly interested in finding fit male labourers, women were also necessary for maintaining a stable community. Despite a mandatory quota for the number of women, there was always an imbalance between the sexes. This unequal relationship led to major social issues, but also offered opportunities to the women

**Disclosing Diaries** On July 1, 1863, the Netherlands abolished slavery in Suriname on paper. In reality, the "liberated" in Suriname were still required to work on the plantations for another ten years. More than 150 years later, the wounds of slavery have not yet healed. This year's celebration of the "breaking of the chains" is being reinforced by visual artist Sarojini Lewis. With the film and accompanying spoken-word performance, "Disclosing Diaries," she shows what slavery entailed and its impact on later generations. Lewis delved into the history of the Berg en Dal plantation and the descendants of the enslaved Stutgard family. The plantation was operated by the Moravian Brethren, an evangelical Christian community. The Moravian Brethren were active in missionary work in Suriname and forced the plantation workers to abandon their own rituals and beliefs. In her film and performance, Sarojini Lewis examines gender patterns, intimacy, and family relationships among formerly enslaved Creole women and men, drawing on missionary diaries, family albums, colonial studies, and historical material from the Moravian Church Archives in Suriname. Metal band For the film’s soundtrack and spoken-word performance, Lewis collaborates with the Surinamese metal band Ravech, two of whose members are descendants of the Stutgard family. With them, she gives shape to rituals, stories, and sounds.

**Mamotica Narratives of Bitter Memories** - In collaboration with Tirzo Martha we decided that a focus on my own youth stories, such as a repetitive nightmare. I created a series of paintings and drawings that took shape of an installation that contained sculptural elements as well. We continued to have many conversations in which my memories of my youth were leading. I did prepare a performance with the title of my project for Landhuis Bloemhof where I did a poetic reading and made a series of photographs in the caves of different sides in Curaçao. The performance was intimate and for a small public as well as the open studios from IBB where I showed the installation of paintings and drawings besides a text piece that I wrote on the wall. The performances consisted of small ritual acts with the Mamotica in the caves and together with a suit that I made of different fabrics that resembled the skin of the Mamotica. So the elements that I wanted to capture with video were made with fabric and with photography. The residency led me to use knew materials such as painting and sculpture and the use of fabrics that were all new aspects within my practice. The thematics of the narratives consisted of my own youth memories and the new connections being a single mother with a young daughter of 4 years old. This relationship became the center within a new series of photographs and I see the whole work as one installation that I will work on in the near future. The suit has been exhibited in the exhibition Labyrinth Within in West The Hague from the 6th of September until December.

**Labyrinth Within - Bureau Stedelijk** - Labyrinth Within is an ongoing collaboration between Razia Barsatie and Sarojini Lewis, exploring their shared yet distinct experiences as women of Indo-Caribbean descent. Through sound recordings, family archives, and personal reflections, they navigate the complex layers of cultural identity shaped by their different relationships to this heritage. Razia's 'traditional' Hindustani upbringing in Suriname contrasted with Sarojini's experience in the Netherlands, where cultural assimilation meant her mother's Sarnami language was not transmitted. Their practice reflects on how migration, assimilation, and gender have shaped intergenerational memory, examining both inherited and lived traumas while navigating cultural boundaries in their current relationships. Buro Stedelijk welcomes the process out of the studio, into the project space. We occupy the space and observe what the interaction with the space could offer. We explore artistic interventions in the semi-public space. Often, exhibiting an artwork means freezing it in time. The work leaves the studio and is shown in a different setting. We defrost the artwork and let it develop in the project space. The start of this manifestation will not be a composed arrangement, but the beginning of an ongoing process. Dion, Thato, Razia and Sarojini work on and present their work as it lives, breathes and develops. Observing, shuffling, remixing, rehearsing and resting. They might add or remove along the way and experience what grows and what dies in these spaces. We collaboratively investigate the in-between space of artistic production and institutional presentation. At specific moments the artists organize moments to talk about or engage the public with their projects and process.

Kruispunt Rotterdam

Date: 03-09-2020 t/m 01-05-2027

Location: ROTTERDAM

https://www.wereldmuseum.nl/nl/zien-en-doen-in-het-wereldmuseum/tentoonstellingen/kruispunt-rotterdam/sarojini-lewis

This artist has no awards yet.