What does freedom mean in a city like Rotterdam, eighty years after the liberation? For the exhibition ‘Drawn: Rotterdam! My City, Our Freedom’, city artists Amber Rahantoknam, Minne Ponsen, and Christine Saalfeld have each interpreted the theme of freedom in their own personal way. Commissioned by Rotterdam City Archives and CBK Rotterdam, the city artists ventured into the city to record what freedom means to them — and to Rotterdam. The end results will be shown at Kunsthal Rotterdam from Saturday 18 October.
Each of us attaches a unique meaning to freedom and we all experience it in different ways. The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands and other European countries after the Second World War. Although we often consider freedom of speech, participating in protests, or moving freely through the city to be self-evident rights, in 2025 these liberties are still frequently challenged. Every day, Rotterdammers are looking for ways to experience freedom — in the streets, during protests, or while discussing policies. In a city of migration and transformation, this year the city artists are poignantly highlighting the diversity and vulnerability of freedom.
Amber Rahantoknam (AMBIGOU)
Amber Rahantoknam (1996), a.k.a. AMBIGOU, works on the intersection of illustration, poetry, and performance. Inspired by comic strips, tattoos, and surrealism, her work showcases colourful, unconventional characters and focuses on themes like inclusivity and intergenerational trauma. As a city artist, AMBIGOU zooms in on three questions regarding freedom: What makes us free? What does freedom look like? How can freedom be protected? To find answers to these questions, she visited various Rotterdam communities. She subsequently intertwined the stories that were told to her at places like De Poetsclub at cocktail bar Tiki’s, and the Genderbending Cruise Party in WORM with her own experiences to create a five part poetic comic strip.
Minne Ponsen
City artist Minne Ponsen (1999) used personal experiences of insecurity in the public space as the point of departure for her work Bring No Clothes. Her four drawings combine fragmented body parts with abstract depictions of the map of Rotterdam to explore the relationship between her body and the city. Through this work, Ponsen aims to transform these negative experiences into an imaginary city where the body and its environment harmoniously coexist. She is thereby reclaiming a space that seemed lost as well as a new sense of autonomy.
Christine Saalfeld
Christine Saalfeld (1968) is presenting a series of 98 drawings in gouache and coloured pencil, accompanied by a short animation. Together these make up a free, associative exploration of what freedom means, and how this becomes visible in Rotterdam. Saalfeld’s colourful drawings highlight how freedom is able to suddenly pop up in everyday moments: during neighbourhood council meetings, in an allotment garden complex, or while having a spontaneous conversation in the streets.
Rotterdamse Stadstekenaars
Even before the bombing of 14 May 1940, but especially during the post-war reconstruction period, artists were capturing the changes in the city. Until the end of the 1980s, Rotterdam City Archives annually commissioned artists to make such drawings. In 2018 this tradition was reinstated in collaboration with CBK Rotterdam, and ever since city artists have again been contributing to the collection of the Rotterdam City Archives. This year, the city artists were selected by a jury consisting of the artist Pris Roos, Cindy Stegeman and Ove Lucas (CBK Rotterdam), Erika Hokke and Wanda Waanders (Rotterdam City Archives), and David Snels (Kunsthal Rotterdam curator). After the exhibition, all drawings will be added to the Rotterdam Collection of Rotterdam City Archives.
