Amsterdam Museum exhibit marks 40th anniversary of "Amsterdam's first racist murder"

The Amsterdam Museum opened a mini-exhibit on Friday to mark the 40th anniversary of 15-year-old Kerwin Lucas Duinmeijer’s murder. The Antillean boy was stabbed to death by a skinhead on 20 August 1983. “His death, often seen as the first racist murder in Amsterdam, led to many protests and cooperation between migrant organizations to fight racism.”

Following Kerwin’s murder, the Fundashon Antiano Amsterdam and the municipality commissioned Nelson Carrilho (Willemstad, 1953) to create an anti-racist statue for the public space to draw attention to the boy’s death and the fight against racism. The Amsterdam Museum asked the Curacao-born sculptor to create a smaller version of his work for its exhibit and to give Kerwin a permanent place in its collection.

The statue Carrilho created from bronze shows a strong black woman, Mama Baranka (Mother Rock). “The image refers to the earth on the island where he and Kerwin came from, to African spirituality, and to the power of women,” the museum said.

The Mama Baranka statue was unveiled in August 1984, a year after Kerwin’s murder. “Mama Barnka has since become an iconic image in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark,” the Amsterdam Museum said. It is delighted to have purchased a smaller version of the sculpture for its collection. “With this, the museum wants to give the impact of the murder of Kerwin and the history of the creation of the first anti-racist image in the city’s public space a place in the collection of the city of Amsterdam.”

The mini-exhibit, which opens on Friday, features the statue, photos, documents, and a short documentary to show the impact of Kerwin’s murder and the genesis of Mama Baranka.