latexandcolonialmen@gmail.com

There are statues of men at The Scheepvaartkwartier in Rotterdam that should be taken down. These men lived in the vicinity of the area and are named after the people who added to the prosperity of the city. Interventions are being done with latex as blindfolds on the busts of these men as a form of protest. In law, it is seen being worn by Lady Justice, to represent our justice system being blind to a person’s wealth, power, gender and race. All these men were extremely wealthy, male, caucasian and represented heteronormativity which amounted to their successes.

The power structures that existed when these men contributed prosperity gives an understanding of resistance today. There are many commemorative statues of men from the colonial era– an era where The Netherlands grew and undertook to control culturally distinct societies and when women were heavily oppressed. Public monuments and statues carry meaning and symbolism within the depths of collective memory. In general, it goes to say that history is written by the winners and this is parallel to public art. To put up a statue you must own the land on which it stands and have the authority to do so. These statues are also depicted as an official form of cultural expression. They represent certain values that are projected into the public space, until they are taken down. Public art was always a useful tool for hierarchical power to depict a representation of truth and to portray a past that conforms to the visions for the conditions today. When commemorative statues such as these are on display, in a place like Nieuwe Werk, one of the most prominent areas in The Netherlands, it raises questions.

Since the classical era, art in public space has been used in urbanisation processes throughout the world. There are cases of public art that raises awareness of historical wrongs and is inclusive towards marginalized people. On the other hand, there are many more cases that are not inclusive and outdated. It is crucial to intervene and question how people in power want to narrate the history and remember the past.

There is almost no public art commemorating history-making women in Western society, and the existing statues of women rarely get names. They are archetypes, symbols or muses. The latex as the feminine skin formed around the men’s eyes in the form of a blindfold is a symbolic visualization to depict the yearning of the blindness of patriarchal society to gender discrimination on top of other factors such as wealth and race. By blindfolding the busts with latex I am referring to the bonds between the past and present. It is an invitation to be confronted with the meanings attached to these busts.

In colonial Europe, women were regarded as mentally and morally inferior to men and were governed by male authority. Patriarchal norms triumphed. Making busts of five men and framing them with the people who added to the prosperity of Rotterdam heavily reinforces patriarchy and excludes women. It represents a time when women were inferior to men and a time when women would not have been able to be labelled as the founding fathers or mothers of Rotterdam. Identities and meanings are in a constant continual motion. The way we perceive sexuality, gender and education were not the same as they were when these men were alive and it will keep evolving. These statues won't and this is why they should be taken down.