Shadows on the Atlantic: curating new perspectives on colonial maritime history

‘Shadows on the Atlantic’ is a new gallery at Het Scheepvaartmuseum (the Dutch National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam). It explores colonial maritime history and how it has shaped people’s lives, at sea and on land, in the past and now. 

The gallery reveals how maritime history is inseparably linked with colonial violence and the legacy of slavery. Through this permanent gallery, the Museum aims to anchor this connection for the years to come. 

Join a free online talk to explore the story behind the gallery's creation, and hear from the curators as they reflect on the stories and objects featured. 

Why is important to provide new perspectives on colonial maritime history? What have curators and other museum staff learnt from working on this gallery? What challenges and opportunities has the project presented? Which collections have been used and why? How has the Museum involved different communities?

About the speakers:

Dyonna Benett (guest curator) and Suze Zijlstra (research curator) have both contributed to the development of this gallery. In this talk, they will reflect on the process of how traditional European perspectives were combined with stories focused on other people, especially Indigenous peoples and African peoples, including those who had been enslaved, and their descendants. 

Benett and Zijlstra will show how the gallery presents the Museum’s collection in new ways, with invaluable contributions from external experts and artists. This project is part of a broader organisational development aimed at providing new perspectives on history. Benett and Zijlstra will discuss how they, and the Museum, are navigating their way through this important but challenging process.

Main image: The waterfront of Paramaribo, courtesy of Het Scheepvaartmuseum, the National Maritime Museum, Amsterdam