Slavernijmonument (National Slavery Monument) (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Taken collectively, the elongated bronze figures of enslaved Africans evoke the hull of a ship. An over life-sized woman, her arms outstretched as she arches her body backward, recalls the ship’s prow. The stern of the ship is personified by a number of nude figures, staggering forward, tethered to one another by the shackles around their necks and wrists. The rough-hewn metal texture of the sculptural surface abstracts the individual features of each figure. The memorial commemorates the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands in 1863.