'AMISTAD - NOW SWITCH! Crossing water that belongs to itself. Only belongs to itself!' . . .
This 50 x 70 cm drawing is referring to the Amistad slave revolt of 1839. Even though in 1839 slavery was already prohibited by law, the Amistad (Spanish for friendship) left the harbour of Cuba with 53 men, women and children from 6 different West-African countries who had been enslaved in Sierra Leone. .
Sengbe Pieh (maybe better known as Joseph Cinqué), one of the captives, was able to free himself and the other trapped men and women. In a revolt, some of the captives and some crew members were killed and Sengbe Pieh, along with others, took control of the ship. As they had no nautic knowledge, they ordered the survivors of the Spanish crew members to sail the ship back to Africa with the deep wish to return home to their families, to be free again. However, the Spanish survivors secretly maneuvered the ship north, and after a two-month odyssee on the ocean, La Amistad was finally captured off the coast of Long Island. .
After a two-year trial, in which Sengbe Pieh and the other captives were accused of munity, 34 of the once 53 men, woman and children were able to return to their home countries in Africa. . .
I've been always deeply touched by this case. The bizzareness and sadness of it shows how twisted it is to use human beings as a good and to degrade people only for the sake of somebody's benefit and profit. .
Slavery is not an exterminated phenomenon, not just the ghost of our past, not something that occurs only in far away countries and particularly not a thing that leaves me unaffected. .
In fact there might be more slavery nowadays than at any other moment of human history. Today a slave seems to be cheaper than ever before. Therefore, I will not stop asking questions. Asking myself questions! Questions about identity, empathy, about what products I am using and what food I'm buying, about what is happening at this very moment somewhere in the world, about what kind of person I want to be. . .
This 50 x 70 cm drawing is referring to the Amistad slave revolt of 1839. Even though in 1839 slavery was already prohibited by law, the Amistad (Spanish for friendship) left the harbour of Cuba with 53 men, women and children from 6 different West-African countries who had been enslaved in Sierra Leone. .
Sengbe Pieh (maybe better known as Joseph Cinqué), one of the captives, was able to free himself and the other trapped men and women. In a revolt, some of the captives and some crew members were killed and Sengbe Pieh, along with others, took control of the ship. As they had no nautic knowledge, they ordered the survivors of the Spanish crew members to sail the ship back to Africa with the deep wish to return home to their families, to be free again. However, the Spanish survivors secretly maneuvered the ship north, and after a two-month odyssee on the ocean, La Amistad was finally captured off the coast of Long Island. .
After a two-year trial, in which Sengbe Pieh and the other captives were accused of munity, 34 of the once 53 men, woman and children were able to return to their home countries in Africa. . .
I've been always deeply touched by this case. The bizzareness and sadness of it shows how twisted it is to use human beings as a good and to degrade people only for the sake of somebody's benefit and profit. .
Slavery is not an exterminated phenomenon, not just the ghost of our past, not something that occurs only in far away countries and particularly not a thing that leaves me unaffected. .
In fact there might be more slavery nowadays than at any other moment of human history. Today a slave seems to be cheaper than ever before. Therefore, I will not stop asking questions. Asking myself questions! Questions about identity, empathy, about what products I am using and what food I'm buying, about what is happening at this very moment somewhere in the world, about what kind of person I want to be. . .
