Tres potencias

Felix de Rooy

The home of artist and film director Felix de Rooy is filled with altars. Paintings of Saints, blue beads against the angry eye, but mostly images in all sorts and sizes decorate De Rooy’s home. A custom following the example of spiritual religions and Catholicism. “But I gave it my own touch,” tells De Rooy. “The altar is a place to honour the spirits of your ancestors. In African spiritual religions, it is one of the reasons to build an altar in the first place. An ode to your ancestors. Personally, with my altars I would like to bring elements from all different continents together in one place.” By creating altars, De Rooy also created a lifelong mission which he calls 'fusion inclusion'. ‘Where do I belong to?’ I used to question myself. “I have a broad background. My parents are Surinamese, but I was born on Curacao. And my teenage years I spend in Mexico-City! Therefore, I have always been an outsider. But it enables me to judge events objectively. What strikes me is that everyone thinks his own people are the best and by acting that way, you shut people out. So where do I and my mixed background belong? I have India, Africa and the entire European Union in my blood!” Despite all this, De Rooy managed to find a symbol in which all his backgrounds fit into: a little statue called ‘the trespotencias’. This statue consists of three Saints. Each Saint represents a section of the population in South America. Holey virgin Maria Lionza represents the Europeans. Freedom fighter Negro Felipe stands for Africans and Cacique Guaicaipuro for the native population of America: the Indians. The religious / spiritual trends that honour the Tres Potencias are called Santeria. “Many people get their strength out of one of these persons. The three Saints together give you even more strength.