Keti Koti: Commemorating 150 Years
2023
Every year on July 1, the Netherlands, Suriname, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, Saba, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao celebrate Keti Koti to commemorate the abolition of slavery. 2023 marked the 150th anniversary of Keti Koti, and BUCK wanted to create something unique to drive awareness of the anniversary and the story of emancipation.
We created an angisa, a traditional silk scarf from Suriname — along with an animation telling the story of Keti Koti. We’re thrilled that everyone at BUCK Amsterdam contributed their talent and time to this important and memorable day.
During our research through the Dutch National Archive, we found several angisa that visually communicated the powerful story of slavery and its abolition. We instantly connected to the style of visual storytelling that it used, and it inspired us in the creation of our own scarf.
The Concept
Some of the prominent visual elements present in our research were broken chains and cuffed arms. We wove them into our own design in order to honor their iconography and their historical value. We also featured an array of bright colors from the flags of the countries formerly belonging to the Dutch Kingdom, and therefore sharing its history of slavery.
The Campaign
To boost awareness of Keti Koti, in addition to the scarf, there was a social media campaign resulting in over 70,000 views, an out-of-home campaign throughout Amsterdam and around the city’s Keti Koti celebration site, and press coverage by Elle Netherlands.
The Keti Koti angisa designed by the BUCK Amsterdam team is available to purchase at GOODS by BUCK, with all proceeds going to The Black Archives.
BUCK
Executive Creative Director
Vincent Lammers
Creative Direction
Simon Buijs
Ward Graumans
Executive Producer
Chance Woodward
Supervising Producer
Carolina Brandao
Associate Producer
Benedicte Gold-Dalg
Art Director
Fabrizio Lenci
Christo Silveira
Estefan Richter
Animation Director
Daniel Rodrigues
Design
Lea Zhang
Bianca Beneduci
Yana Abramova
Anna Moessnang
Bernd Bousard
AE Animation
Laurentiu Lunic
Greta Sennekamp
Otilija Morozaitė
Andres Cuevas
Jardeson Rocha
3D Artists
Saskia Bulletti
Sonal Jadhav
2D Animation/Cel
Santiago Gonzalez
C4D
Jonas Nunes
Sound
Music Studio
Utopi Studio
Composer
Emmanuel Icaré
Partners
Poster Campaign
Stadsbehang
PR Consultant Agency
HAGENS
Scarf
VYF Budapest