Woven freedom
A lunch programme with soup, poetry, a talk, and a patchwork workshop
- Date
- 5 May 2026
- Time
- 11:00 -16:00
- Location
- Allard Pierson
This programme stems from the exhibition Not My Soul, which centres the stories of enslaved people. Individuals whose freedom was stripped away, yet who, against all odds, preserved their humanity through work, creativity, care, language, love, and resistance. This Liberation Day, we invite you to engage with, listen to, and re-examine this shared history.
Programme overview
- 11.00–16.00 | Freedom Soup pick-up point and an opportunity to eat together
- 12.00–12.15 | Reading by poet Bernice Vreedzaam
For this occasion she will write and perform a poem during the Freedom Lunch. - 13.00–13.30 | Lunchtime talk by Isabelle Best, Curator of Surinamica
An exploration of the pursuit of freedom through the archaeological and Surinamica collections. - 14.00–15.00 | Stitching Freedom: a collective embroidery workshop inspired by Maroon resistance, led by Suelae Robinson: Participants are invited to create a collective patchwork inspired by the resistance of the Surinamese Maroons and their own lived experiences of freedom.
Entrance
Admission to the programme is included with your museum entry ticket.
Uva podia
This programme is organised by UvA-podia and is a collaboration between VOX-POP, SPUI25, and Allard Pierson. In the University Quarter, the UvA-podia Allard Pierson, SPUI25, University Library, and VOX-POP coordinate activities and events throughout the year that are accessible to a broad audience.
Bernice Vreedzaam (Paramaribo, 1972) is a poet | writer | performer. She writes in many forms: from haiku to audio story and cinepoetry, and speaks in tongues: from Dutch to Sranantongo. Her work moves between God and human, current events and shared history, scientific curiosity and raw grief, homesickness, Surinamese polyphonic noisiness and meditative silence. She enjoys setting up projects in which she uses language as a medium for connection. On September 17, 2025, she debuted with her substantial poetry collection 'De vogelgrens oversteken' published by Atlas Contact. She is currently working on a novel that will be published in 2026. At the same time, she is a literary programmer and moderator, as well as a jury member for the Boekenbon Literature Prize in 2025 and 2026.
Especially for this occasion, Bernice Vreedzaam will write and recite a poem during the Vrijheidslunch.
Isabelle Best is the Curator of Surinamica at the Allard Pierson, the museum and heritage collections of the University of Amsterdam. Her work focuses on the sustainable and inclusive expansion of the Surinamica collection, which explores the colonial and postcolonial entanglements between Suriname and the Netherlands. It is Best’s vision to use the collection to create a space where Surinamese voices and those from the diaspora are in active dialogue with colonial archives; in doing so, she regards oral traditions, contemporary literature and community-based knowledge as integral components of the cultural heritage within the Allard Pierson.
Suelae Robinson is an Antiguan artist of English and Guyanese descent. Through patchwork, collage, and embroidery, she creates textile artworks that speak on Caribbean narratives, giving a voice to those who are often unheard. Inspired by the tropical environment, her colourful patchwork style reflects the Caribbean’s rich fusion of cultures. Her research often takes an ethnobotanical approach, investigating the connection between people and nature, asking the question, who are Caribbean people at their roots? In a world where the truth is often hidden or forgotten, Suelae uses mythology and imagination to recover lost Caribbean stories. By sharing communal knowledge, she examines the past, to understand the present and hopefully provide a space for more compassion in the future. She is currently based in Rotterdam.
During the workshop, participants are invited to create a communal patchwork inspired by Surinamese Maroon resistance and their own lived experiences of freedom. Each person is invited to embroider a symbol or word onto a fabric square that expresses their own invisible forms of freedom. Together, these squares are stitched into a collective patchwork, creating space for connection, reflection, and shared stories.