© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

Your project "The untangled tales" is a journey through the Anansi myths and stories. In your pictures, it's possible to perceive the ambiguity of signification that storytellers created during their narration. Can you explain to us something about that?

Michelle Piergoelam: The photos of my project ‘The untangled tales’ exist out of two stories, about Anansi the Spider and next to that about Angisa headscarf. The stories of Anansi the spider are based on a storyline structure that was made by the enslaved, by using the characters they could tell about their own stories and thoughts without that the plantation owner knew what they actually meant. The photos in the woods are about the African way of storytelling which is used when you tell an Anansi story. With this way of storytelling, it is important to tell/show the story with big movements and expressions, for example, to use objects what you can find on the ground like branches to express the story.

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

How is this project related to the slave trade? Can we say that it talks about freedom and resistance?

MP: Yes, this project is about the freedom and resistance of the enslaved. It focuses on communicating with each other without the slaveholder knowing what was meant—the only thing that could bring with them overseas; their imagination. In West Africa, there are stories about the mythical spider Anansi. He grew up in Ghana and is a tricky spider with human traits. Spider Anansi had to work all day and live with a tiger who made his life miserable. These stories were passed down from Africa to Suriname. They created a form of escape during those horrible times by telling each other these kinds of stories where they could put their imagination in.

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

What about the Angisa's worn by women as handkerchiefs? How did you know more about these headgears?

MP: While researching the Anansi stories of secret communication during slavery, I stood upon the term Angisa’s: folded headscarf with hidden messages. In the same period as my research, there was an exhibition about the traditional Surinamese clothing at the Klederdracht museum in Amsterdam. Once I found out about the exhibition, I went to the museum on a Saturday morning, listened to all the short movies, and looked at the clothing. The given information was not going into depth with the Angisa as I hoped for; it was mainly about ‘koto’ clothing. With a bit more information, I returned home and bought some books and fabric to fold an Angisa myself. On the internet, I couldn’t find any instructions on how to fold it. In the end, I found a website of a woman who did Angisa folding workshops and contacted her. I explained my research on the phone and that I would have liked to learn more about it. After that, we’ve met and called many times. I’ve learned that this kind of information you can’t find on the internet but the people/community related to the topic or culture.

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

What about the places where you have grown up. Any memories?

MP: I grew up in Rotterdam, where I still live. I had a good childhood here with good memories. Rotterdam is a very modern city; this is due to the bombing of 1940. The city has created its atmosphere. Although I noticed that I like to go to nature for rest and my photography projects, I already did that when I was young. I want to travel a lot, for hiking but nowadays also kayaking to discover places differently.

What about photography? When did you step into the visual world?

MP: I started already at a young age with photography. After secondary school, I went to the university of applied photography in Rotterdam, where I learned everything about the technique. I missed the discussion about the meaning of photography and what it can offer. After that, I went to the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, where there was time and space to experiment and finding your voice in work. Last year (2020), I graduated with the ‘The untangled tales’ project.

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

As a photographer, what are the main challenges you have faced in developing a personal discourse through the visual medium?

MP:  In my projects, I work a lot with stories like cultural stories, traditions, dreams, and memories. The main challenge with working with stories is to not illustrate the story but to find a way to bring the story across. In my visual language, I always try to find a balance between text and image.

What is your opinion about the potential of photography? How difficult was it to develop a photographic narration on themes like "The untangled tales"?

MP: It was difficult to find a good tone for my project 'The untangled tales'. It is a heavily loaded subject, so I looked carefully at how I could best convey it to the public. You also want it to be informative, but I'm not a teacher either, so I also looked for a balance in that. After much reflection, I found a way to deal with this. I think photography has great potential, it's a different way of telling information to someone. Of course, everyone has his or her own interpretation and experiences, which is also taken into account when looking at the work.

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

© Michelle  Piergoelam from the series 'The Untangled Tales'

Today, there's much debate on the art scene on the artist's role in society? On being committed to urgent, politically relevant issues. As an artist, do you think this can limit your expressive creativity?

MP: My opinion is that an artist shouldn’t be limited to address only urgent or politically relevant issues. I think that is more important when you have a topic that is outside of that field, to make the work universal or relatable for others. I think you can reach more people with both instead of limiting the artist in expressing their creativity. Because I believe you can also learn and get inspired to take action when it’s not only political issues.

Could you mention three books that are meaningful concerning the project and your work in general? Not necessarily photographic books.

MP: The next books were useful for my project to learn more about the topic: 'Suriname Folklore' by Melville J. Herskovits & Frances Herskovits, June 1 1969, AMS Press. 'Mythen en sagen uit West-Indie' written by H. van Cappelle, Reprint of the 1926 edition, Thieme. 'Angisa Tori: The secret code of Surinamese headkerchiefs', written by Christine van Russel-Henar, Stichting Fu Memre Wi Afo; 2nd rev ed. edition (January 1, 2008)