Buhlebezwe Siwani Traces Echoes of Colonialism

A woman dancing en pointe moves with controlled grace before a vast tableau of Delft tiles depicting a naval scene; she is unmistakably performing in the tunnel beneath Amsterdam Centraal railway station. This video is one of seven (all works untitled, 2024) projected onto fabrics stretched over wooden frames, which fill the gallery hosting Buhlebezwe Siwani’s latest solo show, ‘ulwela amaza’. On the ground in front of these screens lie a variety of spices (coffee, cocoa, sugar, tobacco, turmeric, pepper), a fragrant reference to colonial trade and the histories of enslavement with which it is associated. Playing with the senses, ‘ulwela amaza’ presents a journey through time and place that traces the echoes of colonial histories in the Netherlands today.

Siwani’s videos shift between recognition and alienation. One image immediately catches my attention: the Oostkerk church in Middelburg, a familiar sight from my childhood. I also recognize many locations around Amsterdam: the Rijksmuseum, the Rembrandt House Museum, the statue of anti-colonialist author Anton de Kom. The exhibition moves between these two cities and their shared, but often-silenced, colonial past: both were major ports for the Dutch East India Company, which was central to the country’s trade in enslaved people and appropriated goods. Warehouses in Middelburg where such items were stored appear in the videos, as do monumental buildings in Amsterdam whose wealth was built on colonial trade. Through her videos, Siwani challenges the established narratives of these cities and their landmarks, instead highlighting locations which have connections to the oppression of Black people – such as the Rijksmuseum, where Black people historically wouldn’t have been welcome – or where their stories have been erased.

Each projection focuses on one or sometimes two individuals. These figures, dressed in contemporary streetwear as well as 17th century costumes and traditional African clothing, dance to melancholic a cappella laments. Written and performed by artist Logan Hon Mua, these songs are haunting and intense, the elegiac sound of layered voices filling the large gallery space like it might a church. This dissonant choral soundscape speaks to how, even when suppressed for centuries, certain voices and stories never truly disappear. A series of three live performances throughout the course of the exhibition adds a further dimension to the work: as the performers dance, their bodies cast silhouettes onto the projection screens, layering the IRL physicality of the performance onto the spiritual worlds depicted in Siwani’s videos.

Both the choreography and the costumes in these videos seem to reference historical labour and acts of resistance: in front of the Rijksmuseum, for instance, two figures are shown bent over, their torsos exposed, whilst in the Rembrandt House Museum, a woman stands upright in a 17th century gown that evokes wealth and social status. At the back of the gallery, a film shows the individuals from each projection coming together on a beach in Zeeland, dressed in boubous – flowing, wide-sleeved robes worn in countries across Africa, particularly West Africa. Whereas the performers in the individual projections appear to be situated in different time periods, in this video they unite on the beach, time blurring as they dance together. 

With ‘ulwela amaza’, Siwani demonstrates how places and narratives are always in motion; how history is not fixed but lived and passed on. Through image, sound and scent, the exhibition engages viewers on every level – intellectually, physically and emotionally. In this space, where time and memory intertwine, Siwani invites us to reconsider the stories we inherit, drawing attention to the colonial histories that taint some of the most recognizable landmarks in cities across the Netherlands.

Buhlebezwe Siwani’s ‘ulwela amaza’ is on view at ROZENSTRAAT – a rose is a rose is a rose, Amsterdam, until 30 March 

^{Main image: Buhlebezwe Siwani, ‘ulwela amaza’, 2024, exhibition view. Courtesy: the artist and ROZENSTRAAT – a rose is a rose is a rose, Amsterdam; photograph: Peter Tijhuis}