Pòpchi
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The special thing about this doll is that it has been baptized. It also has a name, a godfather and a godmother. The tradition of baptizing dolls shows that in Curaçao foreign influences develop their own characteristics over time. This Roman Catholic ritual has become fully Curaçaoan.
The doll is baptized in the name of the needle, the thread and the safety pin. The Roman Catholic church has always had a lot of influence on the island and actively fought against Afro Curaçaoan culture. This doll shows they did not completely succeed.
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2:27 min
"The tradition of baptizing a doll just suits me because I never gave birth - and now I can be the godmother of a doll"
- Ersilia Pietersz-Martina
My name is Ersilia Pietersz-Martina – but everybody knows me as Chila. The tradition of baptizing dolls is an old one. Women who couldn’t have children of their own could baptize a doll and that way they could become godmother of the doll. Like in my case: I have two children but I didn’t give birth to them. I have two daughters, one is 35 and one is 41 years old and I’m so happy with them, I love them dearly. The tradition of baptizing a doll just suits me because I never gave birth – and now I can be the godmother of a doll. That way I can relate to our traditions. I am very proud every time they ask me to be the godmother of a doll. In this case my brother actually made this doll, he made it from cloth. I like it when they’re made of cloth because it makes it more traditional, more real, more authentic. I have a doll that has my skin color so I really feel like I’m part of the doll. His name is Chófilo. I gave him an old name . It’s an old name but we have to go back to the old days so I can’t give him a modern name – so I called him Chófilo.
Obra di arte
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This work of art was made by the Curaçaoan artist Philippe Zanolino, who used pieces of glass that washed ashore on the beaches of Curaçao. The pieces of glass are the archeological evidence of the transatlantic trade hub that Curaçao once was.
Ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean would only bring alcoholic beverages, as drinking water went bad within 4 days. The glass shards of bottles that had been thrown overboard were polished on the bottom of the sea into soft jewel-like pieces. It is clearly visible that wine bottles were blue in the 18th century. Phillippe Zanolino’s son tells us about the beach where his father taught him to see what others can’t see.
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2:27 min
"As we were swimming my dad would pick up all the stones and say “Hey! Do you see the face in this one?” and collect them all."
- Giovanni Zanolino
My name is Giovanni Zanolino. I’m the son of Philippe Zanolino and I’m an artist myself. I was raised in a very tight relationship with my dad; I also followed in his footsteps. I saw him work on most of his collections that I can remember. This one was a very special one because he would go right in front of our house in the Penstraat which is a historical street in Curaçao. As we were swimming he would always pick up all the stones and he would always say “Hey! Do you see the face in this one?” Or “Do you see this in that one?” and he would collect them all.
And then one day he bailed out all these sculptures with them He called the ‘The Love Warriors’, that’s a really fun series he made. I think he worked on it for about a year and a half, maybe two years. He made about three hundred of these objects. Right now he’s actually working on medium-sized Love Warriors.
It was just fun to see the way an artist would see different things in objects and it also taught me to look deeper. If I would see a rock I would also want to impress my dad so all of us would go looking for rocks that looked like something. 90% of the time we would be wrong and then he out of nowhere would find all these magical objects. So it really taught me to look around for the treasures all around us and that God really is the artist.
Manga
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This corn pestle was found on the former plantation of landhouse Girouette. It possibly shows a glimpse of what everyday life on the Curaçao plantations must have been like. Enslaved people performed heavy unpaid labor under difficult circumstances. Because of recurring droughts there was often a shortage of food.
The most important source of food was the strong crop “maishi chikí”, or sorghum. After the abolition of slavery the plantations and the landhouses fell into disrepair. What remained was “maishi chikí”, which is still an important ingredient in the local cuisine. Chef Kris Kirindongo tells us how he uses the corn pestle.
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2:27 min
"For me cooking is not just something you do with your hands and a recipe. The feeling you put into it is very important for the taste."
- Kris Kirindongo
My name is Chris or I should say Kris Kirindongo. I am the leader of the Vittle art movement. The name Vittle Art comes from vittles which is an old word for everything that you can eat or drink and we present it in an artistic way.
Mortar and pestle are two of the most important elements of our traditional cuisine. I use them daily to crush garlic but also herbs for my seasoning. You can use the pestle to separate the sorghum from the head of the plant, then you have to crush it afterwards.
The pestle means more than something functional and physical. There is also an emotional side to it. For me cooking is not just something you do with your hands and a recipe. The feeling you put into it is very important for the taste.
Her’i strika
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Until well into the 20th century clothing irons were used to straighten hair in Curaçao. In that period straight hair was the beauty ideal on the island. The techniques to straighten hair developed into hot combs and the use of chemical straightening methods that changed the basic structure of the hair.
In the late 1960s, hairstyles changed as Curaçao’s population started to embrace a more natural beauty standard. Nowadays young Afro-Curaçaoan women like Nathifa Martina still face a personal journey regarding the expression of beauty and identity through hairstyles.
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2:27 min
"From what I heard people would heat the iron and literally iron their hair."
- Nathifa Martina
My name is Nathifa Martina. My object is an antique clothing iron. From what I heard – not that I have done it myself nor that my mother has done it – but I heard that as a matter of fact people used iron, they would heat it and literally iron their hair. Me I have never straightened my hair. When I was about 14 years old my mother told me that we could go do a treatment that I think was called wetlook and that is as far as I went. There are various other options but I didn’t do any of them. And then when you’re old enough to make your own decisions you choose what to do with your hair. A lot of people who have straightened their hair in the past get to the point where they make a conscious decisions to go for the big chop where they cut it all off and start all over again. And then you let your hair grow, the natural way. And you embrace who you are. You accept your hair and you accept your identity. Not that you didn’t before but this is really a process of identity.