Innovation and Erased Narratives

Before the Columbian Exchange, indigenous people collected plants for medical uses and for centuries made observations of the natural world. After contact with Western Europe, European societies not only trafficked human beings and exploited local resources around the globe, they also destroyed tangible and intangible artifacts of indigenous knowledge. The "New World" was cannibalized for knowledge, producing individual profit and personal acclaim.

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In Jamaica and in Suriname, both Hans Sloane (1660-1753) and Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) acquired their "new" information to take back to Europe. Over the last few hundred years, Sloane and Merian were credited with ideas, observations, and commercial products that were based on the knowledge and expertise they gained from their personal encounters with indigenous and enslaved peoples. This exhibition provides a space to express the erased narratives behind Sloane and Merian greatest books.