Patta Keti Koti T-Shirts
This year for Keti Koti, Patta has worked on a t-shirt with visual artist Farida Sedoc.
Keti Koti (Sranantongo for "the chain is cut" or "the chain is broken”), also known as Maspasi or Prisiri Maspasi for "Emancipation" or "Emancipation Festival”, is an annual celebration on July 1st that marks Emancipation Day in Suriname, the date when slavery was abolished in formerly colonized Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, in 1863. It should be noted that The Netherlands was one of the very last European countries to emancipate its enslaved and that they would not be fully free until 1873, after a mandatory 10-year transition period during which time they were required to work on the plantations under contract, for minimal pay. Sympathy among the Dutch lay with the slave owners, not the victims of slavery. Owners were compensated by the state: 300 guilders (roughly €7000 now) for each person they released.
Nowadays, several cities in the Netherlands host various activities, making this day a day of national remembrance throughout the country, at least among Dutch Afro-Caribbean people. There is still much work to do when it comes to raising awareness around our shared history among the Dutch population at large.
About the artist: Farida Sedoc is a visual artist based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She works in diverse mediums such as screen printing, graphic design, collage, printmaking & textile to create multi-layered narratives and site-specific works. Her work is closely connected to the ideology of street culture, where the city and its citizens meet, and identity is perpetually interrogated. Exploring and questioning contemporary cultural identity and the influence of monetary policy, heritage and politics on the future of globalism.
