Boris van Berkum

Boris van Berkum is the creator and designer of the Kabra Blauw collection produced by Heinen Delfts Blauw. Kabra Blauw is the memento of the Slavery Past Commemoration Year 2023-2024. Several traditions and cultures come together in this salt shaker and the lidded vase as symbols for connection, recognition and reflection on the past. The appearance of the salt shaker and the vase is partly inspired by the Kabra mask that plays a ceremonial role during the National Remembrance of the Dutch Slavery Past, but the decoration and shape are designed in the colors and style of a traditional Delft blue vase with lid, a typical Dutch product. At the same time, the colors blue and white are also important colors in the Afro-Surinamese winti ancestor culture, where the color combination stands for the 'Kabra', the ancestors. By bringing these African and Dutch traditions together, Kabra Blauw is created.

Kabra Blauw is created by bringing African and Dutch traditions together.

Boris often works together with winti priestess Marian Markelo for the development of his art. In 2011 they meet on the Island of Brienenoord Rotterdam. Almost immediately, Marian asks Boris if he wants to make art, masks and sculptures for the winti culture. "Why are you asking me this, a white artist?" asks Boris. Marian explains that it is customary in the winti culture to maintain a direct line with the deceased ancestors. "I am in contact with my deceased grandmother. She is my Bigi Sma, my spiritual guide in this life. Thirteen years before we met, I received two assignments from her." One of these assignments was to revive the African statue tradition, after it had been forgotten on Protestant plantations. Marian received a signal from her deceased grandmother that Boris was the artist who can help her with this. When she shook hands with Boris, she heard her grandmother say; "'This is the man who is going to help you.' The assignment I'm giving you now is soul level. So I wouldn't worry about your skin color."

After three years of intensive study of the winti, Boris van Berkum creates his first artwork: the Kabra ancestor mask. As a basis for the new winti art, he uses 3D scans of West African works of art from the Dutch ethnographic museum collections. In the case of the Kabra mask used for the salt shaker and lidded vase, a Yoruba ancestor mask was 3D scanned in the depot of the Africa Museum. Every year during the commemoration, this mask makes a ceremonial contribution during the opening of the National Commemoration of Slavery History.