Lucas Silawanebessy - If You See Her, Say Hello
From Indonesia to a Camp in the Netherlands
In 1951 the SS New Australia arrives from the island of Java, Indonesia at the Javakade in Amsterdam. The visual artist Lucas Silawanebessy, only 2 years old, disembarks with his family to continue his life in Europe.
Lucas and his family are housed by the Dutch government in the Residential area of Lunetten, a place known as Camp Vught. Here, former troops from the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) and their families of Moluccan descent are forced to live in 22 barracks. Like Lucas, an entire generation of people of Moluccan descent grow up in the Residential area of Lunetten.
“By calling it “If You See Her, Say Hello“, I wanted to give the camp some kind of personality. This way the location becomes a character you can revisit and greet.”
Before being used as a residential area for Moluccan KNIL soldiers and their families, Kamp Vught was a German-occupied concentration camp during the Second World War. Its official name was Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch. The camp remained virtually in its original state when the Moluccan families moved into the barracks. Although the meaning of the former camp changed, its history still lingers in the memories of the people who have been connected to it.
We would like to thank Museum Maluku for the black and white images.
