A search for the memory and legacy of performer and co-director Mathieu Wijdeven's great-great-grandfather: Surinamese artist G.G.T. Rustwijk (1862-1914). Rustwijk navigated post-slavery Suriname as a playwright and performer, a multidisciplinary artist, as a man of colour, and as an early critic of the Dutch colonial regime – before ultimately being forgotten. Using historical locations, site-specific performances, interviews and reimagined archive materials, we search for Rustwijk's "light", and what remains of it in modern-day Suriname.

The project was presented as a 6-channel video installation in Theater Rotterdam, as part of the TRipp space residency and the "Tracks: Perspectives" programme in June/July 2022. It will premiere as a single-channel short film in 2023.

written & directed | mathieu wijdeven & mateo vega

cinematography | sam broekman

research & performance | mathieu wijdeven

editing | mateo vega

with texts |  mathieu wijdeven & raoul de jong, g.g.t. rustwijk

sound design | olmo van straalen

sound recording | jamey reso

line producer | joël aarland

production support & rentals | dave edhard

co-producer | heater rotterdam

costume | monique van hinte & hanne pierrot

visual effects | lucas huikeshoven

made possible with support from | theater rotterdam, stichting droom en daad, amarte fonds, the grip busters, camalot amsterdam, theater thalia, tolud-wijdeven family

A search for the memory and legacy of performer and co-director Mathieu Wijdeven's great-great-grandfather: Surinamese artist G.G.T. Rustwijk (1862-1914). Rustwijk navigated post-slavery Suriname as a playwright and performer, a multidisciplinary artist, as a man of colour, and as an early critic of the Dutch colonial regime – before ultimately being forgotten. Using historical locations, site-specific performances, interviews and reimagined archive materials, we search for Rustwijk's "light", and what remains of it in modern-day Suriname.

The project was presented as a 6-channel video installation in Theater Rotterdam, as part of the TRipp space residency and the "Tracks: Perspectives" programme in June/July 2022. It will premiere as a single-channel short film in 2023.

written & directed by: mathieu wijdeven & mateo vega

cinematography: sam broekman

research & performance: mathieu wijdeven

editing: mateo vega

with texts by: mathieu wijdeven & raoul de jong, g.g.t. rustwijk

sound design: olmo van straalen

sound recording: jamey reso

line producer: joël aarland

production support & rentals: dave edhard

co-producer: theater rotterdam

costume: monique van hinte & hanne pierrot

visual effects: lucas huikeshoven

made possible with support from: theater Rotterdam, stichting droom en daad, Amarte fonds, the grip busters, Camalot amsterdam, theater Thalia, tolud-wijdeven family