Sunday 28 September, 6-9 pm | Granderson Lab
Freedom for a community would not be limited to rejecting a language, but it would be the creation of a free language, enriched by and built from the imposed language".(...) What is needed here, for one and for all communities burdened by the weight of history and those divested of, is in fact not a language of communication (abstract, emaciated, "universal" in the way we know it) but rather, a possible (and regular) communication between mutually liberated opacities, differences, languages...
—Edouard Glissant
This Sunday from 6-9 pm, join artists Ruben Cabenda and Annemarie Daniel from Paramaribo, Suriname in collaboration with Northeleven, for a digital media exhibition at Granderson Lab in Belmont.
In 2023, Cabenda produced the animation Töngö Sondi, a short film that explores the biblical Tower of Babel as a metaphor for Caribbean history. This work was created as part of his Digital Artist's Virtual Residency with Alice Yard.
As part of their 2-week residency, Cabenda and Daniels will share new works in progress, including Töngö Sondi.
All are welcome.
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Artist Bios:
Ruben Cabenda (b.1989, Paramaribo, Suriname) is a contemporary artist known for his provocative animations that explore the intersection of slavery and identity. Cabenda’s practise also spans other media including installation, sculpture, painting. Cabenda obtained his bachelor's degree in fine arts at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (2014). His curiosity for animation grew from 2nd year of the BFA program. The possibility of highlighting or portraying a subject, thoughts, emotions, stories through animation is very fascinating for Cabenda. He won the Gerrit Rietveld Fine Arts Academy Prize for his graduation presentation. After his study Ruben started teaching at the Nola Hatterman Academy (Suriname). In 2018 he switched to the general education system and is currently a drawing teacher in high schools. In his autonomous practice he draws his inspiration from the possibilities that exist to become better as a person, and artist. His curiosity of his origins brought him to focus on the theme of identity and slavery. How the past is connected to the present and how that influences the descendants of the slaves. Through his work he wants to instigate and increase awareness and provoke positive thought and empowerment in his (white and black) audiences ‘today’.
Cabenda’s art has been exhibited in Europe at galleries, museum such as Catharijneconvent (NL), world première IDFA Doclab (NL), also in the Transoceanic Visual Exchange (TVE), Fresh Milk, Barbados (2024). In 2023 Cabenda was the winner of Caribbean Digital Virtual Artist's Residency, Alice Yard, Trinidad and in 2024 he won the IDFA Immersive Grant (NL).
Annemarie Daniel, born April 17, 1975, in Paramaribo, Suriname. Annemarie Daniel developed an interest in art through a high school assignment where she had to draw a stair using perspective methods. She started drawing everything she could laid her hands on. After high school Annemarie studied Mathematics in Paramaribo and became a teacher. It was there where her passion for creativity became stronger to pursue a career in art.
While working as a mathematics teacher she was attending the Nola Hatterman Academy (Suriname). Annemarie received a four-year scholarship to study at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Netherlands). In 2014 she graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts and since then has participated in art residencies and exhibitions.
Because of her cultural background she began to explore the field of body modification. The maroon tribe (Saramaccaners ) she belong to, used to practice scarification on women and men. Her mother is the living proof of this practice. Her mother has scars on her face, lower back and Abdomen. Her mother had to deal with issues such as how people from the city looked down at her mother as an outcast and she had been called names.
Annemarie Daniel is a multidisciplinary artist that investigates slavery, identity, cultural inheritance, scarification that deal with the change of the human body and mindset. In her works she tries to depict the principles visible such as pain, vulnerability, weakness, beauty, strong, cultural belonging to a group that are connected to the past, present and future.
