Unveiling a new portrait of DeltaDua

Those portrayed: DeltaDua
DeltaDua - founded by Anis de Jong and Nel Lekatompessy - has been capturing all colours of the Moluccan/Dutch/(post-)colonial story through music theatre for four decades. The very context and history of the Moluccas and the Moluccans in the Netherlands still receive too little consideration in the collective consciousness. The fearful, unmerciful handling of this history, which has not received the proper recognition and thus still affects current generations, is continuously highlighted in the work of Nel Lekatompessy and Anis de Jong.

Despite all resistance, and with unwavering good cheer, they have taken up the task of telling these stories about and for the community. Their performances draw on Moluccan-Dutch culture. These stories carry divisiveness as well as recognition and connection. Thanks to DeltaDua’s tireless efforts to bring attention to these histories and give them a place in the collective memory of the Netherlands, the Moluccas, Indonesia and the former Dutch East Indies, they are honoured with a portrait in the gallery.

Visual artist Jerrold Saija
As a visual artist, Jerrold Saija seeks to (re)connect with Moluccan experiences. Saija aims for his work to act as a reminder, allowing him and other Moluccans to celebrate the authentic and often unnameable aspects of their existence. Saija searches for memories, handed down stories and in archives for new connections to ancestral knowledge. In 2021, he won the Carat Lucas Gassel Prize for an installation expressing the colonial relationship and history between the Netherlands and the Moluccas. This year, Saija exhibited work in the Imagine Home exhibition at the Noordbrabants Museum. Saija also exhibited at Beelden op de Berg in Wageningen and at the Catharijne Convent at the exhibition Christendom en Slavernij.
-|-
About The Need for Legacy
The Dutch theatre canon has many more makers of colour than most people are aware of. The Need for Legacy is a platform of makers and players of colour and is committed to an inclusive Dutch theatre history. It realises this by making visible a history that is in danger of disappearing from the archives. The collaboration with ITA and Nederlands Theater Festival is one of the projects that contribute to this.

After their support in the realisation of previous portraits, we can once again count on the generous support of Ron and Marijke van Oordt for this portrait. We thank them for this. Their contribution makes the realisation of this portrait and the enrichment of the collection possible.