Xavier Robles De Medina
Removal of the statue of Queen Wilhelmina, 2024

A statue of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands stood in front of Fort Zeelandia; in 1974, she was moved from where she used to stand in front of the Governor’s Palace (now the Presidential Palace). A pivotal moment in Surinamese history centres around the removal of the sculpture of Queen Wilhelmina on the eve of Suriname’s independence. A photo from the archives of the Stichting Surinaams Museum shows the artist’s grandfather Stuart Robles de Medina and colleagues during this removal. The artist renders this photo in acrylic paint by enlarging it until the sculpture assumes life-size proportions. Attached to scaffolding akin to that seen in the original album photos, the monumental painting towers over the viewer. Though not needing a complicated cast, the painting’s production is equally laborious as the artist applies coat after coat of various shades of metallic grey.

The titles of Robles de Medina’s paintings provide necessary context for the archival subject matter such as the drawing Removal of the statue of Queen Wilhelmina (Gerard van Lom) from Independence Square, Paramaribo, Suriname. 1975. right: visual artist Stuart Robles de Medina. (source: Stichting Surinaams Museum, archive nr: 20-162), (2019-2020) which references the year of independence of Suriname from the Netherlands and the immediate removal of the symbolic monarch. By exhibiting it today it connects with the recent Dutch apology for slavery in Deceber 2022 which many commentators say has fallen short.