Future Potentialities for Returned Objects: The Nias Plaster Casts taken by J.P. Kleiweg de Zwaan
| Date | Friday, 23 August 2024 | Time | 11:30am – 12:00pm |
| Venue | Sidney Myer Asia Centre, Room 321 | Location | The University of Melbourne |
In 1910, the Dutch physical anthropologist J.P. Kleiweg de Zwaan (1875-1971) travelled to the Indonesian archipelago, at the time Netherlands East Indies. In search of visual evidence in support of European racial theories, he took 188 facial plaster-casts from living individuals in Minangkabau, Nias, and Glodok.
Historian and curator Dr Sadiah Boonstra discusses the casts taken from 64 living individuals in Nias, North Sumatra and to present collaborative work with partners in Nias that aim to shift the gaze from a Eurocentric framing and understanding of the casts to the signification of Nias communities. How do Niassers interpret and view the plaster casts made by Kleiweg de Zwaan? And what are future potentialities for the Nias plaster casts according to source communities?
This event was chaired by Prof Kate McGregor, Associate Dean International for the Faculty of Arts, and co-organised with the History, Memory and Decolonial Futures Research Collective.
Speaker profile
Dr Sadiah Boonstra is a Historian and Curator based in Jakarta where she is CEO and Founder of CultureLab Consultancy Indonesia, Postdoctoral Researcher at VU University Amsterdam and Honorary Senior Fellow at Melbourne University.
Dr Boonstra has curated a growing number of exhibitions across the world. Combining her experiences in academic research, curation, public programming and producing Dr Boonstra works to decolonise the history, heritage, and arts of colonial and contemporary Indonesia.
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