In February it was the 80th birthday of Mrs. Josta Doedel and last weekend the family came together to celebrate. Her two children Kaj Kraaij (he works at Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam) and Nina Jurna, (a journalist who lives in Brasil and writes and films reports about the Caribbean region for Dutch national media) asked me to make portraits of Mrs. Josta Doedel’s Surinamese grandmothers: oma (=grandma) Paulina Grebbe and oma Elizabeth Magdalena Cederspint; for Kaj and Nina these women are their great grandmothers from their mother’s side.

_{Oma Cederspint, pen and watercolor on paper, © Maartje Jaquet 2024}

It was a huge honor for me as an artist to be asked for this assignment, and it was a challenge too, because there was only so much material to work from. Both grandmothers were born at the end of the 19th century, and having one’s photo taken was something that happened rarely. There was a total of three black and white photos, one of oma Cederspint and two of oma Grebbe. Kaj and Nina told me they would love it if I would bring these photos alive and give them color. That was something I had never done before.

_{Oma Grebbe, pen and watercolor on paper, © Maartje Jaquet 2024}

Oma Cederspint’s photo was taken around 1925, it was an oval print on a white background, a little wrinkled but still very clear, the strong look in her eyes being very impressive. I finished the missing parts of her blouse and created a new background using Surinamese trees. For oma Grebbe I used both of her photos: the one where she’s standing next to another woman, taken in the late sixties, combined with the smiling expression of her eyes on the other photo, taken in 1956. As a background I drew and painted red flowering faya lobi plants, the national flower of Suriname, matching the red and green colors I imagined parts of her corsage to be.

_{The pictures of oma Cederspint and oma Grebbe I was able to use as a reference for the portraits.}

From a historical perspective it is interesting to note that oma Cederspint was a Surinamese woman of African descent, she belonged to the first generation of people who were born in freedom on a cederwood plantation (hence her name). Oma Grebbe was an indigenous woman who lived on a sugar plantation, Concordia, also after the abolishment of slavery. She was the niece of mister Grebbe, the owner of the plantation, and lovingly took care of him when he had fallen ill. The owner left her the land after his death. The land is still in possession of the family. What I also would like to mention is the fact that oma Grebbe only got her last name when she needed a passport to travel to the Netherlands in 1956. Indigenous people didn’t have a family name, the Dutch administration only gave them a number.

If you are interested in more background stories and you can read / understand Dutch, feel welcome to check out the following links:
– Op zoek naar mijn Surinaamse roots: overgrootmoeder op de plantage. Nina Jurna, NRC, 25 april 2017
– Hier staan de namen van mijn voorouders, slaven op Brunswijk. Nina Jurna, NRC, 29 juni 2018.
– Van Bahia tot Brooklyn, Caribische verhalen. Afl. Suriname. Nina Jurna, VPRO, 16 juni 2023.

_{Mrs. Josta Doedel, flanked by (the portraits of) her grandmothers and lovingly surrounded by her offspring. Celebration of her 80th birthday, September 21st, 2024}