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Suelae Robinson

textiel , sociaal-maatschappelijk , natuur , Geschiedenis , Gender , fotografie , Ecologie , Diaspora , Dekolonisatie , Community , Artistiek onderzoek

Suelae Robinson is an Antiguan artist based in Rotterdam, creating textile works through patchwork, collage, and embroidery that give voice to overlooked Caribbean narratives. Drawing on matrilineal craft practices, ethnobotanical research, and mythology, her practice explores themes of labour, resistance, and identity through bold, colourful artworks. Why the name Shac-Shac Stories? In the Caribbean, the Flamboyant tree is known for its annual bloom of bright scarlet flowers. Introduced from Madagascar during the colonial era, it became a symbol of resilience and pride among descendants of enslaved people - a reminder to be seen. In Antigua, it is called the Shac-Shac tree, named after its large seed pods which, when shaken, create a soft “sha-ca-sha-ca” sound - an echo that carries through Robinson’s work and storytelling.

Fire on Sugar Mountain: Memories of a Hidden History - This is a series of eight handmade patchworks as well as a spoken word poem. Together, they tell a story of ancestral spirits who followed enslaved people on the transatlantic crossing and came to rest on Sugar Mountain. Inspired by the colors and memories of the landscape, these works are a spiritual re-imagining of Suelae’s of childhood home.
Fire on Sugar Mountain: Memories of a Hidden History - Triptych - The Fire on Sugar Mountain patchwork triptych is based off of three photographs that I took in Antigua in 2020. The work asks the question: What if the African ancestral spirits lived on amongst the nature surrounding Sugar Mountain and the rest of the island? I imagine the land to store memories, witnessing hundreds of years of trauma, yet resisting and continuing to blossom and grow. The first square represents the Shac-Shac tree, who is a symbol of hope. She is an ancestral spirit that survived on Sugar Mountain throughout its plantation history, and still continues to bloom bright orange flowers every year (hence the “fire” in Fire on Sugar Mountain). The middle square is a former plantation field which is now a farm, yet the grass still grows in the old sugar cane rows. The land literally maintains muscle memory, imagine the trauma that is kept beneath the soil. The final square is the tree-lined road to Sugar Mountain. Surrounded by bush it represents the mystery of the ancestors, the things that were lost, what was kept hidden and what remains to be uncovered. This work attempts to bring visibility to the past lives of enslaved people in Antigua and the Caribbean, a place whose history left it scarred, but hope is found by returning to nature, who doesn’t forget its roots.
6 Black Caribbean Heroes - This is a storytelling patchwork of 6 people whose lives were affected by the African diaspora due to the transatlantic slave trade. Some had adventurous and eventful lives, others less so but all are equally as important to hear. These are stories that don’t normally get recognition; their voices go unheard. For me to understand the cultural landscape of my region I had to know more about the people who made a difference or whose stories were forgotten. These people represent strength and resilience in the face of a world stacked against them.
Toko Heritage
Toko Heritage - Toko Heritage patchwork observes Caribbean history through the lens of various plants and culinary dishes from the multiple diasporas brought to the region through colonisation. Asian, African and European food cultures are combined into a melting pot to create new demonstrations of culture. This patchwork celebrates fruits, vegetables, and dishes that have been preserved and adapted over time through spaces like the Toko. Where else can you go and be instantly transported back into the diasporic communal memory? With this work, Suelae reflects on neighbourhood Toko’s and recognises them as a space that continues to keep culture alive, a space where one can always find a connection to home.
Rice Braided in Hair - During the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, enslaved Africans braided rice grains, crop seeds and plant buds into their hair, in anticipation of the Middle Passage. Once crossing over to the other side and arriving in colonies, slaves used these storages to harvest their own food supplies. In Suriname, escaped slaves used the smuggled seeds and grains to feed whole communities of people living in the jungle, known as Maroons. Generations later they still grow crops native to Africa using traditional methods. This patchwork book, re-imagines this story using Afro-mythology.
Zebra - Zebra Patchwork is a patchwork that aims to tell my story as a mixed race girl growing up in the Caribbean and later moving to Europe. Through 10 questions and statements from myself and other people, it opens up a conversation about race, skin colour, and cultural practices. With this work I invite the viewer to think if they have ever asked or recieved these kinds of questions or statements, and what implications do they have on our identity?
Ocean Journeys - The colonisation of the Caribbean and the Americas, the violent transference of peoples, crafted exchanges of cultures, ideas, languages and stories. A culmination of events that lead to the formation of diaspora nations. How were these people affected? What knowledge did they leave and what did they bring? What was able to survive once it crossed over the Atlantic? What was forever lost? How many loved ones were ripped away? How did they continue to be who were despite forceful erasure of their identities?How do descendants of the diaspora relate to the ocean now? Does it create boundaries? Does it keep them isolated? How are collective histories of the islands passed on when they remain separated to each other?This piece represents all that was lost, shared and exchanged during the enslavement and colonisation of the Caribbean and surrounding areas.
The Seeds in Our Wombs
The Seeds in Our Wombs - Rooted in the history of the transatlantic slave trade, this series is inspired by the acts of resistance of enslaved African women. Slave masters subjected enslaved women to systematic physical and sexual exploitation, perpetuating profound generational suffering and dehumanization.These women rebelled against the expectations placed upon them and discovered different ways of regaining agency over their bodies. One way enslaved women regained control over their bodies was by inducing miscarriages through eating the Peacock Flower, a bush sprouting bright yellow and orange flowers. This allowed them to reject the possibility of birthing offspring that would inevitably become enslaved. Robinson’s work explores how this act of protest gave them a sense of agency. Her work adds to the afro-futuristic myth of an underwater Black Civilization, made up of the descendants of pregnant African women, who were cast overboard slave ships because they were sick or considered disruptive. In Robinson’s reimagining of this story, their unborn children are rescued by Yemaya, the Yoruban Ocean Goddess, who taught them to thrive underwater. Robinson’s series of patchworks and textile collages speaks to the ways enslaved women reclaimed power when facing oppression and honours all the children mothers lost in their acts of resistance.
Visible We
Visible We - ‘Visible We’ is a work centred around the unpaid labour of Caribbean women. Unpaid labour aka “women’s work” is work that is essential for societies to function but is not valued economically. Examples of unpaid labour are: domestic chores, caregiving, and volunteer social work. Demands of unpaid labour make it harder for women to enter the workforce and procure higher paying jobs, thus reducing their job security, affecting multiple generations of women, creating a vicious cycle. And yet women’s contributions provide the economic support necessary for their families to survive. In acknowledging the historical and intersectional systems of oppression that challenge black, Caribbean women’s everyday survival, this work offers the chance for these women to be perceived not as ‘strong and hardworking’, but as versions of themselves who transcends historical events and societal expectations. Depicting three women in Suelae’s life, namely her mother and two of her ‘aunties’, she commemorates their individual contributions to their families and communities. Referencing visuals from Yoruba Goddesses these portraits depict the women seated in their own homes, exuding sentiments of being healed, rested and soft, challenging the dominating perception of being in the background, overworked and underpaid. In this textile re-imagining, they are centre stage and regal. Collaging bright textiles and african prints, Suelae hopes to shift the perception of black Caribbean women and create a vision for the future where women are recognised not for all that they can give but all that they are.
Flamboyant Green, Flamboyant Red
Flamboyant Green, Flamboyant Red - Flamboyant, Green and Red These patchworks celebrate the Flamboyant Tree, a tree known across the Caribbean region for its fiery flowers . Every summer these large trees become enveloped in an explosion of scarlet, orange or yellow flowers, thus awarded names like Flame of the Forest or Flame Tree. The Flamboyant tree has many purposes in the Caribbean. It serves as a place of imagination for children as they play amongst its limbs, using the flowers and large seed pods for games. Additionally the seed pods can be used as instruments: when dried out they have a maraca-like sound, giving the tree its alternative name, ‘Shack-Shack’ Tree. Perhaps the most significant purpose is how this tree has become a symbol of Caribbean pride and resistance, as it is connected to times of emancipation of slavery for different islands. In my own practice, this tree inspires me to delve into stories that have been lost over time while retaining a sense of pride, joy and imagination for the present and future.

Vegetable Stamp Workshop

Datum:
Locatie: Studio de Bakkerij
In samenwerking met: Studio de Bakkerij

a children's workshop where they can learn about caribbean vegetables by using them as paint stamps, the vegetables were cut in half, then the children could paint them and decorate their own tea towel.

Het Nagesprek Expositie with Suelae Robinson and Sarojini Lewis

Datum:
Locatie: Studio de Bakkerij
In samenwerking met: Studio de Bakkerij

Plant Memory - How Culture Exists Through What We Grow and Eat
Suelae Robinson shows different works all dedicated to celebrating Caribbean culture through plants. Coming from an Afro-Caribbean background Suelae aims to uncover the ways certain plants were useful to enslaved and indentured peoples before and how they are still interacted with today. These works ask how we can look at plants and foods as a lens to understand history, to remember stories of ancestors, to carry on the legacy of o

https://www.studiodebakkerij.nl/productie/opening-expositie-het-nagesprek/

(in)visibility: gendered notions of Caribbean indentities

Datum:
Locatie: Gemaal op Zuid, Rotterdam Zuid
In samenwerking met: Gemaal op Zuid

A joint expo between Meliange Comencia and I, where we separately look at Caribbean identities, labour and resilience. Meliange looked inward to herself and I looked outward to the older generation. I made 3 textile collage portraits of mothers in my life representing them as queens in a domestic space, accompanied by an audio conversation between us where they talk about their life experience with unpaid labour.

https://hetgemaalopzuid.nl/agenda/

The Seeds in Our Wombs

Datum:
Locatie: OSCAM
In samenwerking met: Young OSCAM Art Kitchen

17 textiles works using techniques of collage, patchwork and embroidery, including materials of dyed fabric, copper wire, shells, and seeds. This collection aims to uplift black caribbean women and tell their story of quiet resistance, while honouring the souls that were lost due to their acts of abortions during plantation times. Visually theses works are inspired by Nigerian indigo fabric, Yoruban Ocean Goddess mythology, and the peacock flower, a natural abortifacient.

https://www.oscam.nl/portfolio-item/yoak-x-suelae-robinson/#

Poetry Performance of "I am Woman" by Audre Lorde

Datum:
Locatie: Cafe Dox
In samenwerking met: Young Feminist Roffa

Poetry Performance of "I am Woman" by Audre Lorde at Young Feminist Roffa

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3VF91zIYUg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Performance of Fire on Sugar Mountain at Het Nagesprek Talkshow

Datum:
Locatie: Studio de Bakkerij
In samenwerking met: Studio de Bakkerij, Wereld Museum

Presentation of my graduation piece, a patchwork triptych called Fire on Sugar Mountain, a performance of the accompanying poem and an interview with the host

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2KbWh9Ndt7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Colonialism and Rotterdam [Fire On Sugar Mountain - Memories of a Hidden History]

Datum:
Locatie: Wereld Museum, Willemskade 25
In samenwerking met: Wereld Museum

Fire on Sugar Mountain is a patchwork textile piece combined with a recorded piece of poetry. The artwork explores memories of the land I grew up on, Sugar Mountain, once a sugar plantation. I reflect on it's largely unknown and painful history of enslaved Africans that labored on the land before it becam our home. What if the nature and trees of Sugar mountain have kept their spirits all this time? What stories could I hear if I listened close enough?

https://www.shacshacstories.com/portfolio/fire-on-sugar-mountain%3A-memories-of-a-hidden-history---wereld-museum

Angel Delight: Talking Threads

Datum:
Locatie: Wereld Museum
In samenwerking met: Wereld Museum

An embroidery workshop inspired by the history of enslaved people hiding rice grains in their hair

https://www.wereldmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/activities/angel-delight-talking-threads
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