In the period of 2021-2025, a research team collaborated in the project Pressing Matter – Ownership, Value and the Question of Colonial Heritage in Museums. A series of 5 provenance reports titled Threads of Time have been published. The provenance, PhD, and Postdoc researchers in Pressing Matter have provided further historical and other provenance information to a number of objects. This has been used in reflections on provenance, discussions on case studies, and detailed inventories. The series of reports aims to convey the different ways of approaching provenance research on particular regions, collectors, collections, and objects.
Dr Sadiah Boonstra took part in the research project on the facial plaster casts of sixty-four people from Nias, made by Dutch anthropologist Johannes Pieter Kleiweg de Zwaan. These plaster casts are part of the 426 facial plaster casts connected to Kleiweg de Zwaan and are part of the collections of Museum Vrolik, Utrecht University Museum, and Wereldmuseum Leiden. Working alongside Laetitia Lai and Dr Gertjan Plets in fieldwork in Nias, they collaborated with Universitas Nias Raya and Museum Pusaka Nias, deepening the provenance on facial plaster casts of the Nias people, the Ono Niha. In addition, CultureLab took part in developing the research-based exhibition Looking Behind Nias Faces: The Face of Ono Niha, which critically engages with Dutch colonial representations of Nias and the Ono Niha. Dr Boonstra’s research report is part of Threads of Time Special Volume publication, conveying the general report and historical context of the project.
