How did Roman law shape the regulation of slavery in Suriname? And how did enslaved people shape daily life and pursue freedom in antiquity and in the Dutch colonial era? ‘Not My Soul’ explores these questions through objects from the Allard Pierson’s colonial, postcolonial and archaeological collections, alongside contemporary art.
In ‘Not My Soul’ visitors encounter systems of oppression in different societies and see how enslaved people, within tightly constrained circumstances, expressed their humanity. These questions are explored through stories drawn from the Allard Pierson’s archaeological collections of the Greek and Roman world and from its Surinamese history and colonial collections (Surinamica).
Slavery in antiquity
Many of the archaeological objects on display were produced by, or with the labour of, enslaved people. The marble for statues and the metal for coins were cut and extracted by enslaved miners. Earthenware pots, cups and plates were made in workshops where the workforce largely consisted of enslaved people. These services and crafts required training, knowledge and skill. For example, in Roman times enslaved practitioners often worked as physicians, and enslaved artisans made medical instruments and copied books by hand. The exhibition shows how slavery functioned in antiquity, including through papyrus fragments, such as a document recording the ‘transaction’ of the 22-year-old Alexandra, who was sold for the second time.
Slavery in Suriname
Objects from the Surinamica collection present slavery in Suriname mainly through the perspectives of colonial administrators, cartographers and researchers. On view are travel reports and letters of manumission, as well as books of proclamations used to announce local ordinances and laws. The exhibition shows that aspects of colonial slave legislation drew, at least in part, on Roman-law concepts. While slavery has not always been defined by ethnicity across history, during transatlantic slavery skin colour became decisive. Blackness was associated with the deprivation of rights and subjugation, while whiteness was equated with freedom and citizenship. Various items highlight how enslaved people in Suriname pursued some form of freedom. Dictionaries and recorded dialogues, for example, reveal efforts by white authorities to regulate language and custom, even as enslaved people developed their own. Materials also document new forms of kinship. As in parts of antiquity, marriage and forms of family were forbidden.
Contemporary art
Contemporary art plays an important role in the exhibition. Fugitives (2024) by Kathryn Smith and Pearl Mamathuba, for example, reconstructs the identities of enslaved people using nineteenth-century newspaper descriptions and notices published to pursue runaways. Now they look intently at the visitors as strong individuals. Works by Sarojini Lewis and Liara Barussi are also on view. René Tavares’s Making Memories in front of Memories (2023), from the Schulting Art Collection, depicts a Black family posing before a painting of a cotton plantation: the backdrop evokes the colonial past, but the family does not look back. The work invites reflection on how the past persists, and how new generations negotiate its legacy with strength and dignity.
The exhibition also features interviews with descendants of enslaved people, scholars and artists. Objects from the Allard Pierson collections are complemented by loans, including from the National Museum of Antiquities.
Followings its run in Amsterdam, Not My Soul: Slavery, Law and Freedom will travel to other locations, including Suriname and the Caribbean. The exhibition research also informs planned updates to the Allard Pierson’s permanent galleries and contributes to the development of the National Museum of Slavery.