A Caring Practice · Part II

Frequencies of Belonging

A Digital Anarchive of Maroon Material Practices

This anarchive is an ongoing collection of 3D scans documenting architectural structures and everyday objects associated with maroon histories and practices across the Caribbean. Rather than functioning as a fixed repository, it exists as an in-between space: a living database where material traces, memories, and ways of making can coexist, shift, and accumulate over time.

The anarchive is interested in the manifestations of maroon practices, not only in monumental sites, but also in the ordinary forms, gestures, and objects that often remain overlooked. It asks how these material remnants continue to carry histories of resistance, adaptation, and belonging.

At the heart of the project is an attempt to cultivate a sensitivity to what is not immediately familiar: to develop a taste for forms, sounds, and frequencies that exist outside dominant ways of seeing and knowing. It pays particular attention to what we have been taught to ignore, undervalue, or pass by, creating room for the frequencies we usually move past without noticing.

By bringing these scans together, the anarchive becomes more than a collection of digital objects. It offers a space where people may resonate and recognize something of themselves, encounter connections across places and histories, and experience a sense of belonging. In this way, the anarchive acts as an anchor, holding together fragments of material culture while remaining open to new discoveries, new interpretations, and new relationships.

Keep walking — touch an object to wake it

The archive, as an index

Estatua de Benkos

The statue of Benkos Biohó

Wake the scan

Tambor grande

Large drum

Wake the scan

Tambor pequeño

Small drum

Wake the scan

Cocina palenquera

The kitchen itself

Wake the scan

Pilón

Wooden mortar

Wake the scan

Tinaja

Clay water vessel

Wake the scan

Manteca Negrita

Black butter

Wake the scan

Patio tradicional

Traditional patio

Wake the scan

Silla de niña

A girl's chair

Wake the scan

Silla palenquera

Palenque chair

Wake the scan

Mecedora

Rocking chair

Wake the scan

Estera

Woven mat

Wake the scan

Cesta con flores

Basket with flowers

Wake the scan

Altillo

The loft

Wake the scan

Altillo II

The loft, again

Wake the scan

Cáscara de naranjas

Orange peels in the loft

Wake the scan

Bolsas de herramientas

Tool bags

Wake the scan

Plantas medicinales

Medicinal plants

Wake the scan

Purple Flower

A flower, kept

Wake the scan

Mamones

Mamoncillo fruit

Wake the scan

Pozo y mangos

Well and mango trees

Wake the scan

Río I

The river

Wake the scan

Río II

The river, another view

Wake the scan

Costa de Cartagena

The coast at Cartagena

Wake the scan

Scans captured in San Basilio de Palenque, 2025–2026. The archive remains open — new objects arrive as the research continues.

stimuleringsfonds
creatieve industrie

A Caring Practice is developed with the support of the Talent Development Grant Scheme, Stimuleringsfonds Creative Industries NL, 2025.

A Caring Practice — in three parts