Afaaka symbols, a language almost forgotten, are the first things to be recognized in the work of Suriname's popular and promising visual artist Marcel Pinas. Marcel's maroon cultural background and everything that endangers this culture, its people and the land of the people is visualized in his installations, paintings and multimedia work. This is his last day of the exhibition in Saint Laurent, Guiana, "kibii wi koni" (conserve and hold on to our knowledge).
I follow the afaaka symbols on Marcel's work. In the red, blue , black and yellow surface, in the wooden installation, in every art peace of Marcel they show themselves to me.
I try to figure out what i feel , how i connect with this work but somehow i just feel myself watching, like the work wants me to watch, without coming to close to it. It is not an emotional statement, far from that. It is about facts, about life as it is, about trying to teach children to be aware of who they are and what they need, to have a life to be proud of.
When the work is transported back again to Suriname with grace the big afaaka symbols lay there in the small boat. I travel with them , while they are lying in the sun, water splashing, wind blowing, but still, they hold themselves in perfect shape, these quiet symbols. I watch the boatsman carry the symbols high in the air.. as for everybody to see it, watch it.. while they move.. move back from Guiana to Suriname. They lay down softly in the pickup for a bumpy ride back to Moengo, Marcel's former hometown. 
Than it is almost with grace, as we take out the afaaka symbols. And they stand feer, as nothing can harm them, surviving sun, water, wind.. going from place to place. When I look at them , they look back, strong characteristics of symbols of a language conserved, of a history captured, of people strong enough to take their lives in their own hands.
It is then i realize this is the symbolic of the strength of life. Marcel creates this strong inner being in his work. Giving us pace to connect to our own strong self. Showing us symbols to stand tall in a world that seems to forget life in its most true state.
Walking together with Marcel is like stepping on a strong , clear path of engagement , engagement to be true to yourself , to the ground that feeds you and the creation of us humanbeings. It is what Marcel's work tells me,.not to give up, to hold on to ourselves, kibii wi, and from that space.... connect.
Karin Lachmising, Saint Laurent January 8th 2011.
Pictures exhibition kibii wi koni, Marcel Pinas, Saint Laurent november 19th 2010- january 7th 2011