opening: WEDNESDAY, 6 JULY 2022 AT 17:30
– by Sithabile Mlotshwa

What: Exhibition and Dialogues:
Title: Surinamensium Part 1 – Rethinking the gaze of Maria Sibylla Merian/Naturalist, Scientific illustrator and Adventurer by Sithabile Mlotshwa with contributions from Dr. M.L. (Mikki) Stelder and Rudy Chotoe aka di Damsko.

The exhibition Surinamensium part 1, is the starting point and reflection on the gaze of Maria Sibylla Merian, a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator whom in 1699, traveled to Dutch Surinam to study and record the tropical insects native to the region, when it was a plantation colony utilising slavery for sugar cultivation. In 1705, she published Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium. Merian’s Metamorphosis has been credited with influencing a range of naturalist illustrators. Because of her careful observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly, Merian is considered to be among the more significant contributors to the field of entomology by David Attenborough.

Part 1 is a presentation of dialogues and reflections with contributions from Dr. M.L. (Mikki) Stelder and Rudy Chotoe aka di Damsko.

The exhibition will be officially opened by Rudy Chotoe aka di Damsko.

Current project: In Search of Ubuntu – Legacies of Imperial Projects, re-Remembering & re-Thinking “Empire” in relation to “Civilisation” the West and the Rest

Contact: sithabileartprojects@gmail.com