Despite their diametrically different backgrounds, Berend Strik and Sharelly Emanuelson began a collaboration. For them, the lack of horses for the Golden Coach in this courtyard stands for the want of attention given to the colonial past in the Netherlands. Their soundscape, a mix of Caribbean music and the typical gait of Paso Fino horses from Curaçao, with their rapid footfalls, aims to make this missing story audible. The island’s history of migration and its influence on European music can be heard in the rhythms and melodies. The sound of the horse’s gait recalls memories of shons (plantation owners) surveying their estate, of royal tours on the Caribbean islands, of the annual carnival with equestrians dressed as monarchs, and of the horse Manchado. According to folktales, the horse was free to roam Curaçao, liberated from the burden of pulling a coach.
This work has been realized in collaboration with producer Iski (Sydney Marcus) and musician Sorandy Sint Jacobs.
Berend Strik (Nijmegen, Netherlands 1960) works in various disciplines, from two-dimensional pieces to sculpture and architecture. With his embroidery, or “stitching,” as he calls it, he gives a new experience to media such as photography and painting.
Sharelly Emanuelson (Willemstad, Curaçao 1986) is a visual artist and filmmaker. Raised on Curaçao and Aruba, Emanuelson explores what she experiences in daily life as being “Caribbean.” Her work shapes thoughts and feelings about culture, heritage, and colonialism and their effect on the present.