Art Office

Lewis asked the work contribution for the publication from Surviving to thriving. Showcasing Indo-Caribbean Perspectives and South Asian Identities Through Art, a initiative from Priya Swamy, curator of the Wereldmuseum. She suggested Lewis in front anysha Bharos en Nazrina Rodjan. The three of them were responsible for de publication and corresponding exhibition of twelve Rotterdam artists with a Hindu background, covering topics such as sexuality, identity, queerness but also exoticism and racism explore and investigate.

Lewis: 'We spoke to all the artists and made a selection from their portfolios. My work is also included. Many artists are busy breaking taboos between our generation and that of our parents. There is a gap with our parents who have emigrated. It keeps us busy: how is our Indo-Caribbean identity expressed in our work.'

Lewis (along with Preeti Singh) published a photographic journey, Journey to gujarat, in the book, as well as a handwritten poem about looking en acquiring knowledge. Meanwhile, Lewis is also working on her PhD research: 'My contribution to the book is directly related to my dissertation at the Indian jawaharlal Nehru University, with the title Visuals or female bhojpuri migrants: Situation the archive attraverso a Contemporary Lens. I studied the history of the period 1873-1920 (and the generations after), when migrant workers moved from Calcutta to Paramaribo after the abolition of slavery.'

She searches for archive images of that generation and mixes them with contemporary visual art that stems from that history, connected to identity. Lewis: 'It's my story too, actually. My mother is from Suriname and my father has Indian and Indonesian roots. There will also be a chapter in my dissertation about family and genealogy, based on the conversations I have with relatives. They are personal stories, especially memories with photos, what i ask for and that ik capture.'

The PPR-contribution meant support for the project that had already been set in motion before the corona epidemic broke out. Lewis: ´We had been working on the project for a year and a half, and the completion is partly due to the injection of PPR. We were able to release the book in a limited edition. The award was a motivation to continue, to continue the project actual finalize. The added value for us was to collaborate with other artists with a similar background.'

It was also the time of discussions, about Black Lives Matter, about racism and about identity. Lewis: 'There was a lot of time to dwell on topics related to slavery. My research is just about that period after emancipation. It's a personal history, but the small, personal stories represent something bigger, something universal. I mainly look at the women. They could slowly be economically independent from generation to generation. Although in the time of indenture they experienced double exploitation: in the own environment and by the colonial powers.'

Lewis has been working for a long time with the idea of ​​memory and displacement. For example, her series Why do you have a face like a Sopropote see. Lewis: 'Sopropo is a bitter vegetable that the workers of British-India brought to Suriname. The taste is associated with emotions to the past en to a feeling of home. This work is a personal search for how I see myself, but also for the hidden memories of a community.´ The bitter taste symbolizes for Lewis on the one hand a form of sadness, a rift that… originated through migration and passed down from generation to generation: 'I examine what such a history has done to us, economically and emotionally. There is a psychological effect of a migration process where little talked about within our society.'

Temporary work contribution PPR
Om artists during the corona lockdowns to help maintain their professional practice, launched CBK Rotterdam de Ttemporary Wacknowledgment Production, Presentation en Research (PPR) about this visual artists can are signed up at CBK Rotterdam. Divided into two rounds in 2020 in 2021 finally received bijna two hundred artists a contribution. The result of the temporary work contribution is bundled in a magazine in which we, together with a few artists, look back and look forward. This is one of fifteen interviews from the magazine.

Text: Machteld Leij
Photo: Mark Bolk