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Boris van Berkum (Rotterdam, 1968) is a visual artist working at the intersection of art, heritage, and spirituality. His practice investigates how ritual, material, and community can generate new forms of remembrance and healing. Trained at the Willem de Kooning Academy (Rotterdam) and the Academy of Fine Arts (Prague), Van Berkum develops projects that merge contemporary art with transcultural, transhistorical and spiritual perspectives.

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Since 2010, Winti priestess Marian Markelo has commissioned and entrusted Boris van Berkum to develop a contemporary Winti art oeuvre — an evolving visual language in which Afro-Surinamese spirituality engages in dialogue with European heritage. Acting on Markelo’s commission and spiritual guidance, Van Berkum created iconic ritual objects such as the Kabra ancestor mask (used annually during the national remembrance ceremony of the Dutch slavery past) and Mama Aisa Pronkbeeld, a sculptural embodiment of the goddess of life and earth.

His ongoing project Eau Décoloniale expands this dialogue into the realm of scent, exploring the colonial histories of perfume ingredients and their entanglement with global trade, extraction, and desire. “What is the moral price of Luxery?” He works with scientists from the Meertens Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), where he is a guest-researcher. 

Van Berkum’s recent projects include The Collection Resists (Missiemuseum Steyl) Winti Bal Masqué (Theater Rotterdam & Tafelberg Amsterdam), Healing Power (Afrika Museum / Tropenmuseum / Wereldmuseum), Kabra Blauw (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Kunstmuseum Den Haag), and Mama Aisa Pronkbeeld(Melly institute Rotterdam). His work has been featured in Het Uur van de Wolf (NTR broadcast, 2024) and is held in the collections of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, KunstMuseum Denhaag,  the Amsterdam Museum, and the Groninger Museum.

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Through these projects, Van Berkum seeks to re-activate the spiritual dimensions of art and to build bridges between communities, histories, and the senses.

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For an overview of the available works click HERE

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Exhibition: CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS COLLECTIVE

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