Of Palimpsests and Erasure

Of Palimpsests and Erasure

<span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;">In 1705, naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian published her study of the Surinamese insect and plant world. For this, she was dependent on information from Indigenous and enslaved African women. Only then was their knowledge of medicinal plants taken seriously in Europe. patricia kaersenhout erased Merian's drawings, like a palimpsest: a reused book in which earlier texts are faintly visible. In this, Surinamese women come forward to claim their rightful position. [text 2023]</span>

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In 1705, naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian published her study of the Surinamese insect and plant world. For this, she was dependent on information from Indigenous and enslaved African women. Only then was their knowledge of medicinal plants taken seriously in Europe. patricia kaersenhout erased Merian's drawings, like a palimpsest: a reused book in which earlier texts are faintly visible. In this, Surinamese women come forward to claim their rightful position. [text 2023]

Now in the museum in Collectie Centraal II

Title

Of Palimpsests and Erasure

Artist

patricia kaersenhout (Den Helder 1966)

Dating

2021 - 2021 (1 serie van 8 prints)

Material and technique

Print op papier

Object number

35625/002

Object type

prent

Acquisition

aankoop met steun van het Mondriaan Fonds 2021 (In opdracht van het Centraal Museum vervaardigd)

Dimensions

hoogte 48 cm

breedte 100 cm

Documentation

  • Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers? [Een tentoonstelling bij Nest, 10.9-19.12-2021], Laurie Cluitmans, Heske ten Cate, Eva Burgering ... [et al.], (Metropolis M, 5, sep/okt 2021), losse bijlage, 78 p.

  • Open-ended visions of possibilities : patricia kaersenhout, ed. and comp. Chandra Frank, Eleonoor Jap Sam, Patricia Kaersenhout ; contr. Barby Asante ...[et al.], (Prinsenbeek, 2023), pp. 126 -133, afb. in kleur

Exhibitions

  • Collectie Centraal II, 2024

  • Collectie Centraal , Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 2023

  • De botanische revolutie, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 2021 - 2022

Persistent url

To refer to this object please use the following persistent URL:

https://hdl.handle.net/21.12130/collect.62D78F94-AA48-44F9-8DE8-1727DC2E78FC

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