“ …since Grandad’s light cannot be put out if it burns on inside me.”
Julia and Robinson Jouwe pay tribute to their ancestors from both the Papua and queer communities through music and storytelling.
Julia Jouwe is an activist, journalist and storyteller. She speaks and writes on topics such as decolonizing language and history, and climate racism. Like her grandfather, former Papuan leader Nicolaas Jouwe, she is committed to the self-determination of her people, the Papuans. In 2019, she co-founded The Young Papua Collective, a youth organization focused on talent development and the preservation of Papuan culture.
Robinson Jouwe is a pianist, singer and composer. He studied at Utrecht’s Conservatory of Music. His self-written jazzy pop songs are about first loves, his roots in beautiful, far-away West Papua, and how disco is inextricably linked to the LGBT+ community.