Commissioned by
Verwey Museum Haarlem

Artist
Michelle Piergoelam

Curator
Kim Knoppers

Date
4 October 2024- 26 January 2025

Text
Handout The Untangled Tales ENG_KimKnoppers

The painted tobacco-filling machine (1762) from the Haarlem tobacco company De Gouden Kroon, part of the museum’s collection and on display in this exhibition, reflects the history of slavery from the perspective of the white elite who amassed wealth through the transatlantic slave trade. In The Untangled Tales, Michelle Piergoelam (1997, Rotterdam) creates space for the voices of the enslaved and their descendants.

Piergoelam is a photographer who crafts visual stories of hope and resilience, drawing inspiration from cultural myths, dreams, and ancestral memory. In her ongoing project The Untangled Tales, she brings to light Indigenous narratives from Suriname, honoring their cultural value and reclaiming overlooked histories.

Her work reveals how oral traditions, rituals, and coded language offer insight into Suriname during—and after—the era of slavery. Folded headscarves (angisas), Anansi folktales, work songs, and knowledge of native plants were used by enslaved people to communicate and pass on wisdom beyond the grasp of enslavers. These stories and traditions traveled from Africa to Suriname, passed down from generation to generation.

Alongside existing works, Piergoelam presents new pieces in direct response to the tobacco-filling machine. Through this gesture, she symbolically returns the tobacco plant to the enslaved, the Indigenous communities, and their descendants—offering a powerful counter-narrative to Haarlem’s colonial history.

The Untangled Tales is part of the exhibition series Let Go and Cherish, which explores how art can offer new ways of engaging with cultural heritage. The series reflects on contemporary themes and urgent questions through objects and stories from the historical exhibition Allemaal Haarlemmers, presenting broader, alternative perspectives that stretch beyond the borders of Haarlem and its immediate surroundings.

Public Program
*Opening The Untangled Tales: Musical performance by Astrid Zweevel
*Anansi Storytelling Afternoon with Wijnand Stomps
*Historical Walk: Traces of Slavery x Verwey Museum Haarlem
*Film Screening & Artist Talk: Moeder Suriname (director Tessa Leuwsha) with Kim Knoppers, Michelle Piergoelam