Roosje Verschoor: Corridor Project Space

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Corridor Project Space

Exhibition
Amsterdam (NL)
November 2019 — December 2019
In collaboration with Axe & PorrigeCorridor Project SpaceSuzanne Bernhardt
Supported by AFK

The first exhibition for The Struggle is Real took place at Corridor Project Space, in Amsterdam, in November 2019, in collaboration with artist Suzanne Bernhardt. The exhibition was comprised of photo etchings, ceramics, videos, collages, and an installation, which showed the societal, economic, and sociological aspects of eating podosiri.

After Suzanne and I returned from Suriname, we decided to research the use of podosiri in the Netherlands. After a long search, we found hip health bowls that extolled the health benefits of their mix of podosiri, dairy, fruit, nuts, and coconut shavings. However, the podosiri content in the bowls was so low that people were mostly paying for an idea; the idea that they were eating podosiri (and thus something very healthy).
In Paramaribo, podosiri is seen as country food; it’s cheap, and looked down on a bit. In eastern Suriname, the health benefits of podosiri are considered a given.

Health benefits
I collected ten health food books in thrift stores, and used them as a basis for an edition about our project, a collage. I pasted photos of the podosiri production process onto individual pages of the thrift store books , and wrote bits of wisdom on them concerning the health benefits of podosiri, which I had learned online. The result was a collage book.
Suzanne looked into the relationship between food vloggers and podosiri, and created a video compilation. She then created a ceramic ‘health bowl’, using clay from Suriname and The Netherlands.

History
Using the Naturalis online archive, Suzanne and I investigated the history of podosiri. We selected several images from the archive, which Suzanne turned into posters that react to different colors of light. The changes in light were used as a through line during the exhibition’s opening night.
I also investigated the value that the açaí palm holds for people in the Suriname interior. I translated this search into a poem and a video piece.

Tour and dinner
During the exhibition, visitors were guided through the various layers and traditions associated with this berry. The audience was given an extensive tour, as well as a four-course meal featuring dishes incorporating podosiri, which had been specially prepared, respectively, by creative chefs ‘Axe & Porrige’ and chef Paul Lisse.

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