OSCAM x The Black Archives present ‘Black Manifesto: on the road to Black emancipation’
In June 2020, more than 50,000 people took to the streets in all provinces of the Netherlands during the #BlackLivesMatter protests. Over the past ten years, the anti-Zwarte Piet movement has made a significant stand against institutional and anti-Black racism. There is a growing understanding that the Netherlands is finally struggling with the legacy of its colonial past, and that past and present injustices must at last be addressed.
The Black Manifesto
The Black Manifesto emerged from this movement and this moment. It is a “living document” with concrete advice and demands from and for Netherlands Black communities on tackling racism and inequality in various sectors such as education, the labor market, and arts and culture.
The fight to break through deep-rooted structures of inequality is a multifacted one, extending to all fields of civic life. What is the role of artists, creatives, and writers in bringing about change? As one way of keeping the movement going, the exhibition Black Manifesto presents a series of artistic and research-based ways of resisting and insisting on sustained momentum.
Selected artists Chimira Obiefule, Rossel Chaslie, and duo Jonathan Hoost and Youandi here give expression to the manifesto in their own visual, creative ways. Writers Akú Anan, Bart Krieger, Jillian Emanuels, Mungayende Helene Christelle, Phaedra Haringsma, Princess Attia, and Sherilyn Deen write from several different perspectives about Black communities in the Netherlands. The project is the culmination of the open call Manifesting Systemic Change Through Creative Waves, organized by Nederland Wordt Beter, New Urban Collective/The Black Archives and Black Queer & Trans Resistance NL (supporting organizations of KOZP) in collaboration with BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht.
27 October, 2021 to 4 March, 2022, the exhibition Black Manifesto: is on view at OSCAM in Amsterdam Zuidoost. Additionally there will be several programs, workshops, and other opportunities to experience the movement and the manifesto.