Bagasi Na Ati – What we carry

2026

Emma's father-in-law gave her a suitcase with the archive of his grandfather Maarten de Niet. It was filled with photos, political documents, newspaper articles, and a doll with two faces: white on one side and black on the other. De Niet was attorney general and acting governor of Suriname from 1926 until 1953. Emma's Surinamese grandparents lived under his regime. They lived a stones throw distance from each other, but lived in completely different worlds.

Emma travels to Suriname to dive into the past and investigate the meaning and impact of the archive. De Niet was involved in the arrest of revolutionary Anton de Kom and in the imprisonment of the well-known trade union leader Louis Doedel, who disappeared into a psychiatric institution for life. These arrests still have an impact on modern-day Suriname. What do these stories and images evoke in the people around Emma, in her father-in-law, who gave her the suitcase, and in her own mother, who grew up at a time when her Surinamese roots had to be denied? And how should she herself deal with this painful and complex legacy that she is also passing on to her children?