What does freedom mean in a city like Rotterdam, eighty years after its liberation? In the exhibition Signed: Rotterdam! My city, our freedom City illustrators Amber Rahantoknam, Minne Ponsen, and Christine Saalfeld each offer their own personal interpretation of the theme of freedom. Commissioned by the City Archives and CBK Rotterdam, the artists explored the city to capture what freedom means to them—and to Rotterdam. The final result will be on display at Kunsthal Rotterdam starting Saturday, October 18th.
Freedom means something different to everyone and is experienced in a variety of ways. In 2025, we commemorate 80 years since the liberation of the Netherlands and other European countries after World War II. Freedom of speech, demonstrations, and freedom of movement throughout the city may seem self-evident, but even in 2025, it's still regularly under pressure. Rotterdammers search for ways to experience freedom every day—on the streets, during protests, or in policy discussions. In a city rife with migration and change, this year's urban illustrators poignantly demonstrate how diverse and vulnerable freedom can be.
AMBIGOU, The Voice
Amber Rahantoknam (1996), aka AMBIGOU, works at the intersection of illustration, poetry, and performance. Inspired by comics, tattoos, and surrealism, her work highlights colorful, idiosyncratic characters and addresses themes such as inclusion and intergenerational trauma. As a city illustrator, AMBIGOU addresses three questions about freedom: What makes us free? What does freedom look like? How do you guarantee freedom? To answer these questions, she visited various Rotterdam communities. She interweaves the stories she gathered at venues such as De Poetsclub in the cocktail bar Tiki's and the Genderbending Cruise Party in WORM with her own experiences in a five-part poetry comic.
Minne Ponsen, Bring No Clothes
In her work Bring No Clothes processed city artist Minne Punches (1999) personal experiences of insecurity in public spaces. In four drawings, she explores the relationship between her body and the city, combining fragmented body parts with abstract representations of a map of Rotterdam. With this work, Ponsen transforms negative experiences into an imaginary city where body and environment coexist in harmony, and a sense of lost space and agency is reclaimed.
Christine Salfeld
Christine Salfeld (1968) presents a series of 98 drawings in gouache and colored pencil, supplemented with a short animated film. Together, they form a free, associative exploration of what freedom means and how it manifests in Rotterdam. In her colorful drawings, Saalfeld shows how freedom emerges in the city in everyday moments: during a neighborhood council meeting, in a garden house complex, or in a spontaneous conversation on the street.
Rotterdam city draftsmen
Even before the bombing of May 14, 1940, but especially during the reconstruction, cartoonists captured the city's changes. Until the late 80s, the Rotterdam City Archives commissioned cartoonists annually. Since 2018, this tradition has been revived, in collaboration with CBK Rotterdam, and city cartoonists have further supplemented the Rotterdam City Archives' collection. This year, the city cartoonists were selected by a jury consisting of artist Pris Roos, Cindy Stegeman, and Ove Lucas (CBK Rotterdam), Erika Hokke and Wanda Waanders (Rotterdam City Archives), and David Snels (curator at Kunsthal Rotterdam). After the exhibition, the city cartoonists' drawings will be incorporated into the City Archives' collection and become part of the Rotterdam Collection.
Beeld bovenaan: Bas Czerwinski, opening tentoonstelling Stadstekenaars 2025