Designed and handmade by Ike Melchizedek.
This tailored suit was created specifically for the monument of Anton de Kom in Amsterdam. De Kom, Surinamese writer, anti-colonial thinker and resistance fighter, is remembered as someone who almost always appeared in a well-tailored suit. Yet the monument portrays him bare-chested, a choice made by the artist to emphasize vulnerability, universality and timelessness. Since its unveiling, that decision has sparked discussion within the Surinamese community and beyond.
Together with Akwasi, this intervention proposed another perspective. The suit was not intended to replace the sculpture, but to open a conversation about representation, dignity and historical memory. Every pattern was drafted and sewn by hand to fit the monument's exact proportions before being installed on the statue at Anton de Komplein.
A temporary garment became a public statement, inviting people to reconsider how we choose to remember those who shaped history.
