Bert Kienjet in the Curaçao Museum
New exhibition in the Curaçao Museum with etchings by Bert Kienjet:
‘IN DE BOSSCHEN IN HET 5DE DISTRICT‘
(In the woodlands of district 5)
Opening Thursday, January 16, 2020
from 19:00 to 20:30 hrs.
The title of the exhibition is based on a petition that the Curaçao districtmeester C. P. de Haseth wrote to the governor of Curaçao in 1921.
In the petition he asked to be transferred from the quiet, rural Bonaire (having previously served in the remote, overgrown environment of the 5th district, in the west of Curaçao) to the urban, civilized Willemstad: the 2nd and 3rd districts. In order to offer his children a better future, he needed to escape the abandonment and isolation of the 5th district.
To experience this ‘remote and overgrown’ woodlands himself, Bert regularly joined the Workgroup Archeology of Curaçao, alias ‘De Speurneuzen’ (archaeology sleuths). During these hikes in the natural environment in the west of Curaçao, he found inspiration for his etchings.
The exhibition is divided into three categories: the woodlands, the ancestors and the archaeology sleuths .
The woodlands, the mondi
In a series of 12 large etchings, Bert depicts the beauty and isolation of the rugged woodlands or Curaçao ‘mondi’.
The Ancestors
The six ancestor etchings are about the power of the ancestral images. It’s an intangible heritage, which like the potsherds and the flat hip-flask, continued to exist among the trees and cactuses in the mondi.
The archaeology sleuths
Portraits of the members of the Curaçao Archaeology Working Group, known as ‘De Speurneuzen’ (archaeology sleuths), who together with Bert have wandered through the Curaçao mondi, where he got his inspiration for this exhibition.
Click here for a report (blog) of a hike with the archaeology sleuths on the site Curaçao Pictures.
Etcher Bert Kienjet
More or less by coincidence, Bert Kienjet came to the Caribbean, years ago. Here he found a rich source of inspiration: the eventful and multifaceted history of Curaçao, which is still tangible in island’s society.
Bert exhibited etchings previously at Gallery Alma Blou (2017) and at the Curaçao Museum (2012)
Etching is an artisanal printing technique, derived from the medieval gunsmith’s trade. Bert chose it as a logical extension of his background. He is from Leiden, and was born on the historic, 17th century Galgewater, next to a copper-engraving printing house. Also with Rembrandt’s birth house around the corner.
Click here for an interview with Bert on the site of Museum De Lakenhal (Leiden).
An example of another etcher in Curaçao is Jan Toeter. His series ‘Historische Momenten van het Eiland Curacao’ was exhibited in Landhuis Bloemhof in 2006.
Meet and Greet
Meet with Bert Kienjet on Saturday, January 18 from 10:30 to 12:00.
This text may only be reproduced with reference to the source: Curaçao Art®️, www.curacao-art.com. Copyright of the artworks remains property of the artist.
