Arawak Teatro, 2022

In his most recent photo series, Arawak Teatro, Harmen Meinsma captures the vivacity of a group of five young actors living and working in Curaçao. Dressed in exuberant costumes, these talented young people intervene in the tourist areas of the island playing out magical and mystifying characters in the streets. Arawak Teatro is the passion project of Franklin Salgado revolving around a clear vision of uplifting the performance arts on the island, cherishing and taking ownership of its histories and empowering young people to live (and play) out their dreams and fantasies. The challenges of limited resources on the island are taken in stride and combatted through creativity and love, for each other and the beautiful streets of Willemstad, which they have taken over as their playground. They chase their dreams wearing upcycled costumes provided by Franklin Salgado and rehearse in an abandoned bank building. Their hair and make-up are their own creation. “This project was felt like bringing a dream to life, challenging the sometimes harsh realities of the island that has its share of poverty – which has only increased during the pandemic. Over the course of a few weeks I feel like I made friends for life and we have come to share a future vision. I will return to them in December with the aim of arranging an exhibition as crowning glory to the project.”