Jerrold Saija at P/////AKT / Amsterdam

Jerrold Saija / A slim band, something that binds, and a range of frequencies

19 November—22 December 2023
Thursday – Sunday, 14-18 hrs

P/////AKT - Platform for contemporary art
Pakhuis Wilhelmina

Groenhoedenveem 2

1019 BL Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Photographs by Chun-Han Chiang, courtesy of P/////AKT Amsterdam. 



🌴: In the forests of Maluku, my tale does unfurl,

together there, nature and people, they whirl.

Sagu tree’s shield alike, I hide something deep,

In Melanesian hearts, my secret they keep.

What am I, this quality strong and yet tender,

A trait in the hearts that no storm can hinder?

           

            🦎: What are you??

 

🌴: I am soft, and protected by my bark.

Do you know what motivated the Dutch Metroxylon Sagu tree to exchange letters with a

botanical philosopher?

 

            🦎: Tell me plz.

 

🌴:They thought these philosophers were skilled at helping plants uncover their 'root' issues!

           

            🦎: I love that. I’ve dreamed of settling deeper into my body too.

 

🌴: Do you know how the uprooted tree felt about being lost?

 

            🦎: Idk.

 

🌴: It looked for the nearest wifi, just to feel connected.📡

 

 

Jerrold Saija focuses on unlearning cycles of harm and suffering caused by colonial history, and its impact on the Moluccan body. In his artistic practice, he draws from oral history, lived experiences, archives, memory, mourning, and the pleasures of the Moluccan body. Saija explores new possibilities around what remains of this history. Media and methods such as photography, sculpting, 3D modelling, rendering, printing, clowning and storytelling are used as tools to reconnect with what has been lost.

 

 

About P/////AKT

 

P/////AKT is a non-profit exhibition space for contemporary art that organizes and facilitates large scale solo presentations through which the audience gets the opportunity to gain insight in the thinking space of the artists.

P/////AKT provides a platform for exceptional, emerging artistic talents, who distinguish themselves through their unique and authentic language and who are capable of giving a different view on the current way of thinking. They are stimulated to work out new developments and are given the opportunity to present their work to a relevant audience. Furthermore, P/////AKT always asks the artists to produce new work that relates to the specific nature and dimensions of the given space and to present their own mental space as an overall presentation within the given context.