topic: Stories from Rainforest by Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan

In this series we invite you to engage with the artistic research project and film Stones Have Laws by Dutch artist Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan and their collaborators.

As an artist duo, who sculpt and write, and who frequently travel into territories that are divided by politics and trade, borders, ports, industrial areas, agricultural lands and mines, they questions about the place they live and work in: Where does Europe begin and what are its boundaries? What are its actions in the world? What is Europe’s colonial past, and how do colonial legacies continue to have an effect on people’s struggles against extraction and exploitation? Lead by people, their stories and object worlds, they enter into dialogues to co-create the artistic processes that result in multi-media work.

For this particular project, they collaborated with Surinamese Maroons, whose ancestors were abducted from Africa to Guianas three centuries ago to toil on plantations under the Dutch colonial rule. After freeing themselves from enslavement, the Maroon people built a new life in the rainforest, where they have cultivated a strong, ritualized bond with their environment. Currently, the Maroon communities are fighting against the global extraction machine that is pushed into the deep rainforest of Suriname. Departing from their lifeworld, and after long and careful considerations and exchange, Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan invited the Maroons to engage in a cinematic exchange and collaboration. This longstanding and extensive collaboration resulted in a film with the Maroon people about their struggle for freedom and the protection of the rainforest.

Stones Have Laws (Dee Sitonu A Weti)

This series begins with an online conversation with the Dutch artists Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan, and the Surinamese theater maker and artist Tolin Erwin Alexander, and journalist and moderator Kevin Headley about their collaboration with the Maroon community and the cinematic exchange, followed by a written interview with the artist duo by writer Lietje Bauwens.

In addition, we are delighted to share with you a series of essays written by Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan, titled Stories from the Rainforest, and a special contribution by journalist and documentary maker Kevin Headley, who in his essay, gives an in-depth account of the current struggles for recognition of land rights for the Maroon and Indigenous communities in Suriname.

The making of the film Stones Have Laws. Photo by Lonnie van Brummelen.

video – 11 jan. 2021

Recap of online conversation 'Stones Have Laws'

Filmmakers Lonnie van Brummelen, Siebren de Haan and Tolin Erwin Alexander discuss with moderator Kevin Headley how crucial it was for the film to support the land right struggle of the Maroon community. Until their land rights are recognised, the Maroon community continues to live with uncertainty, as the government displaces the Maroon communities for the extraction of natural resources such as petroleum, gold and bauxite. The film makers also spoke about how they have developed a trustful relationship with the communities involved, ensuring that this film was told in a rightful way. Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan work together since 2002, producing film installations, writing, sculpture and collages. Tolin Erwin Alexander is a director, producer, writer and dancer in Suriname. Kevin Headley is a journalist, documentary maker and writer.

essay Lietje Bauwens – 23 sep. 2020

Leven in een multiversum

Mister Motley publiceerde in 2018 het interview 'Leven in een multiversum' waarin Lietje Bauwens het kunstenaarsduo Van Brummelen & de Haan spreekt over het onderzoek naar het oprekken van landsgrenzen. ArtEZ Studium Generale publiceert het interview opnieuw in het kader van het project LAND en de online filmvertoning van 'Dee Sitonu a Weti / Stones Have Laws' en het gesprek met de makers Van Brummelen & de Haan. Lonnie van Brummelen en Siebren de Haan werken sinds 2002 samen; schrijven en maken sculpturen en collages, en produceren films and installaties. Lietje Bouwens is een schrijver en onderzoeker in Brussel.

Textual appendices Stories from the Rainforest

The filmmakers Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan contribute to this topic with a series of textual appendices on the subject of land, which they developed when they were conducting research for Stones Have Laws. Their contribution, Stories from the Rainforest, offers a rich reflection on how materials speak to them in and through their artistic practice. By tracing material flows and goods within the global economy, they show the rifts and new relations between humans and their environment. Through their encounters with various communities, they recount how they as image-makers deal with these rifts and challenges.

essay Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan – 12 jan. 2021

Stories from the Rainforest: Introduction

Read here the introduction to the essay series on Stories from the Rainforest.

essay Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan – 13 jan. 2021

Stories from the Rainforest: Plantationocene

a contract with nature

Read here Plantationocene, the first essay in the series Stories from Rainforest.

essay Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan – 01 mrt. 2021

Stories from the Rainforest: Nature intended it that way

Read here Nature intended that way, the second essay in the series Stories from Rainforest.

essay Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan – 28 jun. 2021

Stories from the Rainforest: Nature intended it that way 2

Read here Nature intended that way, part 2, the third essay in the series Stories from Rainforest.

essay Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan – 05 jul. 2021

Stories from the Rainforest: The dance of relating

Read here The dance of relating, the fourth and final essay in the series Stories from Rainforest.

The fight for acknowledgment of human and land rights in Suriname

In this text, the Surinamese documentary maker, journalist and writer Kevin Headley gives an in-depth account of the local situation and the ongoing struggle for the recognition of land rights of the Maroon and Indigenous communities. In contrast to large-scale land grabbing by corporate industries that exploit land for capital gain at the expense of local communities, Indigenous relations to land entail the duty to protect and care for it for generations to come. Kevin Headley is a journalist, documentary maker and writer.

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essay Kevin Headley – 22 feb. 2021

The Fight for Acknowledgment of Human and Land Rights in Suriname

As quoted in this essay by Kevin Headley: "The land rights are the greatest security that the Surinamese government can give to the original inhabitants of this country," says Theo Jubithana, chairman of the Association of Indigenous Village Chiefs in Suriname, VIDS. "As long as it is not recognized by law, we will continue to live in great uncertainty every day.” While there are agreements in place regarding the areas inhabited and used by the communities, the state of Suriname fails to legally corroborate their rights to the land which they live on and with.