9 November 2024 - 12 January 12 2025

Majalla's Cloak - Frayed edges of the Leiden Cloth

Museum De Lakenhal presents Majalla's Cloak from 9 November 9 2024 to 12 January 2025. This participatory art project explores the connections between the historic Leiden cloth industry and the slave trade. Especially for this project, artist Sarah van Lamsweerde (NL/BE) collaborates with heritage specialist and performer Alicia Hoost (NL/SU), theater maker and voice performer Esther Mugambi (AU/KE), visual artist Eugenie Boon (NL/CW) and textile artist and project coordinator Claire Zandvliet (NL).

MAJALLA

The name Majalla refers to an enslaved boy mentioned in the correspondence of Daniel van Eijs, a Leiden cloth merchant and later plantation owner. Historian Sjoerd Ramackers discovered this tragic story while researching Leiden's role in colonial history. The name Majalla symbolizes the countless lives lost on Van Eijs's plantations in Berbice (present-day Guyana), where the average life span of enslaved people was only eight years.

FREEDOM CLOAK

Inspired by stories of resistance to slavery, Hoost and Van Lamsweerde decided to posthumously create a freedom cloak for Majalla and his namesakes. This mantle, a symbol of hope and escape, imagines how Majalla could have freed himself in a world of inequality and oppression.

JOIN US: UNRAVELING SESSIONS

This summer Alicia Hoost, Sarah van Lamsweerde and Esther Mugambi will look for the hidden stories of Leiden with help from you. They will investigate the connection between old Leiden textiles and the slave trade. A loaded history, which they would like to unravel in a creative and healing way: working together with textiles, song and your stories. The sessions take place on four Saturdays in the Studio of Museum De Lakenhal. Everyone is welcome!

PRESENTATION FINAL RESULT

The unraveled textiles from these sessions will be assembled into tactile sculptures by artist Eugenie Boon; the stories will be woven into songs. The results will come together in an installation and a series of performances. The installation will be on view at Museum De Lakenhal from 9 November 2024 through 12 January 2025. The first performance will take place on Friday 7November, during the special evening program ofLakenhal Late. Other dates will be posted on the website soon.

This project is made possible by Sarah van Lamsweerde, Alicia Hoost, Esther Mugambi, Eugenie Boon, Claire Zandvliet, Coöperatie Leidse Weverij, Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie and Mondriaan Fonds.

Thanks to Sara Wieman and her research on historical Leids fustein in reconstructing the fabric for Majalla's Mantle.