Craft and Souvenirs from Suriname – an extraordinary showcase

Craft and Souvenirs from Suriname – an extraordinary showcase

On the 3rd of December the Readytex Art Gallery in cooperation with the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Cooperation (IVCC), launched a special event by the name of “Craft and Souvenirs from Suriname – an extraordinary showcase”.
With the holiday season already at hand this exhibition gives local as well as international visitors the opportunity to choose wonderful Surinamese keepsakes and memento’s as gifts for friends and family.
The exhibition is being held at the IVCC and the main attraction of the event is undoubtedly located in the main hall. Here all the available crafts and souvenirs stand displayed in a unique and artistic fashion. The design for this art installation created with crafts and souvenirs, was conceived by local artist Kurt Nahar in cooperation with 2 other great Surinamese artists, Kenneth Flijders and Rinaldo Klas. Guests are welcomed at the entrance of the exhibition hall by a decorative square arch of wooden branches adorned with Surinamese plants at the base and a palm tree curtain as a walk through into the room.
Immediate attention is commanded by the installation in the center of the room. Leather sandals and slippers form an imaginative pathway of footsteps towards a maroon inspired fenced in rectangular area, its floor covered with sand and a large totem pole out of dark rustic wood reigning in the center. Calabash bowls stand at its base in symbolic sacrificial offering while totem like woodcarvings stand scattered throughout the sand and pieces of decorated traditional maroon cloth adorn the outstretched hands of the totem pole as well as the fence.
The rest of the room is interspersed with artful displays of for example traditional clothing and dolls in traditional costume, indigenous ceramic vases and bowls, handcrafted maraca’s and intricate Javanese textiles and Wajang dolls.
One wall in the room is decorated representative of the sea and beach and forms a charming backdrop for beautifully carved and painted paddles, hand carved wooden sea turtles, dugout canoes, real stuffed piranhas and even flip flops with Suriname written on them in large print.
Last but not least, an artful display reminiscent of a typical Surinamese wooden home finishes up the rear of the room. Complete with an entryway of colorful painted door panels and shutters, the room is furnished with antique looking furniture and decorated with more beautiful crafts and souvenirs. A china cabinet for example is filled with decorated mugs and other similar souvenirs, wooden bowls, and a center table displays the well known Surinamese Parbo beer and Borgoe rum. Small tables and serving trays made from different pieces of local wood, just like the familiar wall decoration of Indian with bow and arrow, Kotomisie or Maroon with drum, traditional maroon maluwana’s and other popular wall decorations complete this room.

Crafts and souvenirs in these wonderful displays and art installations are available for purchase in the adjoining room of the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Cooperation (IVCC).
The exhibition “Craft and Souvenirs from Suriname, an extraordinary showcase” is open to the public until the 7th of December from 9:00 am until 13:00 pm and again from 17:00 until 19:30 pm.