Tree of forgetfulness - Laura Samsom-Rous , Hans Samson

Boom der vergetelheid * L'arbre de l'oubli * A bon fu frigiti

The trans-Atlantic trade in slaves lasted three centuries. Millions of Africans were forced to leave their places of birth and marched to the coast to await their deportation to the European plantations on the other side of the ocean. The histories of West Africa and Surinam are inextricably entwined with the Western colonial past.

Famous photographers Hans Samsom and Laura Samsom Rous took pictures of the final section of the slave route that ended at the port of Ouidah in Benin on the Slave Coast of West Africa. They also took photographs of the king of Benin, whose forefathers had cooperated with the European slave traders. They followed the trail to Surinam, photographing the inland, the village Tutubuka, and the Marrons themselves, the direct descendants of the plantation slaves who managed to escape and fight for their freedom.