Arantja Rosalina does not want to judge too soon, but she takes into account that a work of art that was specially made to commemorate Keti Koti in Eindhoven has been deliberately destroyed. “I was told at the beginning of the evening on Sunday. It is a pity that it happened, although it does not have to mean that it was deliberately destroyed.”
Arantja Rosalina is a member of the 30 June/1 July Committee in Eindhoven. Partly on its own initiative, the working group was intensively involved in the festivities in the city center to reflect on the end of slavery, exactly 150 years ago.
Tommy van der Loo was asked to make a work of art for the commemoration. The Tilburg artist descends from people from Curaçao, who were enslaved. The artwork was a chain on a wooden pedestal and was placed at City Hall on Friday. It would be temporary. It should be replaced by a permanent monument in the future.
“The artwork is being removed faster than planned.”
“Making and installing has become possible, among other things, thanks to a subsidy from the municipality. It could be there for a few weeks, but now that it seems to have been ripped off the base and is irreparably damaged, we will have to remove it sooner. But”, announces Rosalina, “first we want to talk to the municipality. How we can best handle this. Perhaps there are CCTV images showing what exactly happened. Someone may have accidentally damaged it or it may have been deliberately or have been unknowingly disabled, we don’t know yet.”
The Eindhoven resident is therefore cautious. Whoever or whatever is behind it, she doesn’t want to let this ruin the past weekend completely. “Look, if you organize such an event, then you know that there are also people who are angry, who have a hard time with it. That is a pity and you also take that into account emotionally.”
“We are very happy with the event and the king’s apology.”
“Of course I was shocked when our committee was informed about the damage via email on Sunday evening. I’m going too far to speak of a hangover. The event was successful and the king has apologized. We are very happy with that.”
