Video presentation Sarojini Lewis

Lewis uses various forms of fiction and performance in her work to depict how different colonial histories come together in a personal life and family. Through film, photography, archival material, artistic research and performance, she explores the history of slavery, contract labor and migration through the lens of intimate stories.

The video The orhni that belongs to mausi shows the origins and current use of the orhni. This veil represents respect and is primarily worn by older women in Suriname. It contains specific material as known from net curtains and decorative lace and is usually white. The materiality of the orhni seems to originate from Europe and could be a Christian influence from the missionaries who used lace and brought similar materials such as net curtains. The current generation rejects this cultural custom, which is why the orhni is now seen as a symbol of previous generations and older women.

"I wonder what the orhni means to me personally. When I revisit the pictures of my per-nani (great-grandmother) and nani, I see that they were respectable Indo-Caribbean women and they identified with this headscarf," according to Sarojini Lewis.