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.
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.
Benta
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Richard Doest is a Curaçaoan painter who also makes musical instruments such as the “benta”. When he was studying in Amsterdam, he became fascinated with his own Afro-Curaçaoan musical heritage.
Many of Curaçao’s traditional instruments originated as practical tools for everyday life. The wood that is used for the “benta” needs to be bendable. In order to get the right branch you need to cut it during full moon, or otherwise it will not bend and will eventually break.
The “benta” was used for a musical genre called “muzik di zumbi”. The word “zumbi” probably hails from the Ubundu people in Angola, where it means ‘spirit’.
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2:27 min
"The benta was derived from the hunting bow – so it goes back thousands and thousands of years – and has been preserved here on the island."
- Richard Doest
The benta is a unique instrument in the Caribbean. It came from Africa. Curaçao is one of the most developed islands in the Caribbean but on the other hand the benta which is a rudimentary instrument because it was derived from the hunting bow – so it goes back thousands and thousands of years – has been preserved here on the island. This shows just how complicated culture is and how people decide to hold on to certain things, store them, not tell anyone about it but keep it to themselves and so forth. The benta is part of the muzik di zumbi from the Bandariba region but a lot of times the person that plays benta just sits in the door of his house and plays for his own joy, not to impress people and to get applause. I was always intrigued by the benta. I lived in Holland for 11 years and then I saw a stamp with a man with a hat playing an instrument and I knew: this is the benta.
Ka’i orgel
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This wooden object with nails in it is the ‘music roll’ of a “ka’i òrgel”, a typical Curaçaoan musical instrument that looks like a combination between a cilinder piano and an organ. A wooden chamber amplifies the sound produced by a cilinder with thousands of nails. Every nail is placed with the utmost precision.
Building a “ka’i orgel” requires a skill that only some instrument builders master. The nailed compositions are unique. The mix of European melodies (often walzes and mazurka’s composed by Chopin, Jewish harmonies, and African rhythms) has developed into a unique musical genre. It is dance music because music cannot exist in Curaçao without dance. The “kai orgel” is the center of many parties. Migali is the daughter of the best known “kai orgel” maker on the island and she tells us what the instrument means to her.
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2:27 min
"My father used to tell me that back in the days the kai orgel parties would last 2 days, these were some parties!"
- Migali Pinedo
I am Migali Pinedo, I am the youngest child of mr Serapio Pinedo. Next to me you can see a cylinder. A cylinder takes more or less 8000 nails. You have to remove the head of each one of them. With a nailer you stick a nail into one of the holes in the cylinder. In the end the cylinder will be full of nails and the nails together define the melody. So the cylinder is the main element of the kai orgel that carries the song of the kai orgel. My father used to tell me that back in the days the kai orgel parties would last 2 days, these were some parties! The kai orgel was especially popular among wealthy people. In time it spread across the island and came to areas like Bandabou where my father actually saw one when he was a little boy and said this is for me! He learned to make kai orgel all by himself. And it has been popular ever since.