The exhibition The Struggle is Real took place at Corridor Project Space in Amsterdam and lasted for two weeks

We walked the audience through our exhibition, using our own journey of discovery as a guideline. The different chapters were emphasised with a change in lighting and a different dinner course

For the exhibition, Suzanne riso printed differently coloured layers on top of each other. Each colour tells a different story about podosiri. The yellow layer, featuring images of pills and smoothies containing açaí, is revealed by blue light

Blue light brings out the yellow layer, with images of pills and smoothies that contain a small amount of açaí

Açaí, as podosiri is called in the western world, has numerous health benefits. Recent years have seen the production of a variety of pills, smoothies, desserts, and juices, featuring açaí as some sort of miracle ingredient

Red light reveals the blue images: boots, a boat, and a machete. These are the instruments needed when picking podosiri berries

To get to the marshy part of the jungle, the berry pickers use a wooden boat called a 'korjaal'

Green light reveals the pink images: archival material, such as scientific drawings

By changing the lighting, the exhibition went into the next performance phase. The phases included stories about the artworks, anecdotal memories about podosiri, and a new dinner course

Artist Suzanne Bernhardt combined clay from Suriname with clay from the Netherlands to create bowls, referring to the popular health bowls containing açaí that are sold in the Netherlands

In the different performance stages, we examined the spiritual, economical, historical and chemical values of the podosiri berry

The prints enabled the public to explore the production process in Suriname

The photo etches that I made with podosiri ink were displayed in wooden frames, that I painted with podosiri

The Maroni River, that Mambo crosses to sell podosiri on the 'French Side' (French Guiana)

Kensli in the woods, looking for a good pina palm with plenty of podosiri

Kensli climbing a palm tree, while cleching his machete between his teeth

The view through Mambo's car window, on the road to Albina

A large pile of podosiri pits at a local podosiri factory

The exhibition featured the video 'Pina Poem', an ode to the pina palm. The video combines images of the podosiri pickers with a voice over: a reading of a poem I wrote in Sranantongo, featuring the pina palm as a symbol of the strong bond between traditions and their place of origin

They see me like a tree But I am nothing but grass I bend with all the winds They see me like a tree But I don’t have bark My outside is the same As my heart They call me by the wrong name Because they speak another language You see, me, I whisper with the wind They want to take me for themselves But my roots go deep into the ground They want to touch me to understand me But I’ve grown to the sky Their arms are too short High above my head is in the sun There is not a tear That cannot dry

Suzanne's short film on vloggers that promote products with podosiri (açaí), in line with the latest trends. Taste, experience and origin become obsolete

We combined a lightbox with the photograph I took of the ice with a clay sculpture of an icebox made by Suzanne

For the exhibition, I edited twenty books about health. I drew and wrote texts with podosiri ink in them. I also pasted photos from the podosiri production process in Suriname in them

The dinner performance was designed and executed by the cooking collective Axe & Porridge (Sander Uitdehaag and Veniamin Kazachenko)

The dinner performance by Axe & Porridge was part of the exhibition. The various courses were all inspired by podosiri

Baked banana with cassava and podosiri sauce

Invitation to the exhibition's opening