An old, yellowed map of her grandfather, it was something very special for Floor as a young girl. “I remember how my father rolled that card under the bed. It was in a kind of suitcase with all emotionally valuables.” For the now 27-year-old visual artist from Kaatsheuvel, it was a source of inspiration for the Brabant exhibition.
“The map showed the route of the Polish soldier Henryk Recko, who fought during the liberation of the Netherlands,” she explains. “He himself fled from Poland because of the oppression, but finally ended up in the Netherlands after a very long journey through Africa, America and England to help with the liberation.”
Floor Snels is the initiator of The commemoration project From studio remember. “The intention was to reach young people around eighty years of liberation from the Netherlands after the Second World War,” she says. “Then we went through Brabant for two years to talk to young people about their memory of freedom and freedom.”
She continues: “We asked the question: what should commemorate and celebrate in the future to look like? That gave a lot of inspiration and also a broader perspective, because we found out that after the period 1940-1945, which is largely about during the liberation, there was still a whole period.”
After collecting all kinds of stories, the exhibition took shape through projections, videos, sound clips and art objects. The exhibition was made entirely for and by young people. They connect the Second World War with current themes and invite reflection.
“Young people are looking for stories from the past for a bit of hold.”
“The eyewitnesses from eighty years ago, who experienced the Second War and the Liberation, almost all of us have lost us,” says Caroline Belt, program director of Brabant. “The new generation must remember and celebrate with stories that are not theirs. On the one hand we are looking for a way how we are going to commemorate, on the other hand you notice that young people are looking for stories from the past to find a bit of guidance. The history is a piece of your identity.”
The makers thus build a bridge between past and present. “We keep memories alive, achieve new generations and show how experiences of that time can help us with the questions and challenges of today.”
Brabant remembers can be seen from 3 to 25 May at the Stadsbalkon in the Lochal in Tilburg. In the art installation, memories, commemorating and freedom come to life through art, video and stories.
There is also a book Released, “The other story, about North Brabant and North Brabant people during the Second World War.” There are 28 personal stories together. It is about unique, still unknown war stories, which give a more nuanced picture of the course of the war in Brabant.