Iriée Zamblé’s work explores the norms of portrait art. She paints fictional figures that evolve as she paints. She is inspired by research into Black identity and by West African and Dutch heritage: “I discovered how the slave trade contributed to making Haarlem rich and powerful in the 17th century. People were being traded in exchange for Haarlem’s cloth. So the ‘dazzling white fabric’ from Haarlem became the inspiration for this painting.”
This work was commissioned from Zamblé by the Frans Hals Museum.