In October 2025, Graphic Matters, a Breda-based design organization focused on the social and civic dimensions of typography, launched CHARACTERS: Voices in Type in collaboration with exhibition partner Civilization.[1] The project centered on a 105-meter mural painted by more than sixty volunteers, set in VTC Wij and featuring a declaration by Anton de Kom: “Vandaag vrij, altijd vrij” (“Free today, free forever”). Among the volunteers was his grandson, linking the project directly to the history it reflects.
Research into de Kom’s life and legacy expanded into a broader study of Dutch postwar protest movements. Over the following months, the project extended into poster-making workshops in public schools and a design conference examining typography as a tool for public memory. [2][3][4]
• Anton De Kom
Anton de Kom was born in 1898 in Paramaribo, Suriname, into a family still shaped by the direct consequences of slavery. His father had been born enslaved.[5] In the 1920s, he moved to the Netherlands and became involved in anti-colonial and left-wing movements.
His book Wij slaven van Suriname, published in 1934, was the first history of slavery and Dutch colonialism in Suriname written from a Surinamese perspective.[5] He argued that abolition had not ended inequality or racism, but had reshaped them.
When he returned to Suriname in the early 1930s, colonial authorities monitored and restricted his activities. On February 7, 1933, a protest demanding his release from detention turned violent when police opened fire, killing two people and injuring many others.[6] He was deported to the Netherlands and prevented from returning.
During the German occupation, he joined the Dutch resistance and wrote for underground publications. Arrested in 1944, he was deported to Germany, where he died in April 1945, just weeks before liberation.[5] For decades afterward, his work remained largely absent from Dutch education and public life.[6]
[1933] Mugshot of Anton de Kom. Police photo, Paramaribo. Learn More
• Anti-colonial and migration struggles
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Dutch colonial authority began to fracture. In Indonesia, the weakening of European control during the war led to a declaration of independence in 1945 and a four-year conflict before sovereignty was formally recognized in 1949.[7]
Decades later, Suriname gained independence in 1975. In the Netherlands, where Surinamese communities were already established, migration increased and inequalities in housing and labor, shaped in part by racial discrimination, became the subject of organized protest.[8] Groups such as LOSON mobilized around these conditions, connecting anti-colonial struggle to everyday life in Dutch cities.
In 1988, these same networks led the campaign for the rehabilitation of Anton de Kom, linking earlier struggles for independence to ongoing demands for recognition.[6]
Indonesian independence fighters in 1945. Most are armed with bamboo spears. Tropenmuseum/National Museum of World Cultures., CC BY
[1975-10-21, The Hague] Demonstration during the debate in the House of Representatives on the independence of Suriname, with the participation of members of the Surinamese Parliament. Outside, people are standing with signs and banners with various slogans. Learn More
• Women’s rights movements
In the late 1960s and 1970s, feminist movements in the Netherlands made their demands visible through direct public action. Dolle Mina emerged in 1969, challenging legal and social restrictions through demonstrations that combined urgency with humor.[9] Their actions addressed issues ranging from equal pay to access to childcare, often using short, declarative slogans that could be read instantly in public space.
A few years later, Wij Vrouwen Eisen formed as a broader coalition advocating for abortion rights, including decriminalization, access through public healthcare, and a woman’s right to decide.[10] Their demonstrations brought together participants from across political and social groups. The banners produced by the movement introduced distinctive letterforms shaped by repetition and clarity, including a consistent rendering of the Dutch “IJ,” two characters functioning as a single unit.
[1971-01-30] Dolle Mina's celebrate first anniversary, Amsterdam; demonstration including for Angela Davis at the Wilhelmina Drucker Monument on Churchilllaan. Learn More
[1976-12-18] "We Women Demand" ("Wij vrouwen eisen") demonstrates in Amsterdam against decision on abortion bill; en route. Learn More
• Public space and civil rights
By the end of the 1960s, protests in the Netherlands increasingly took shape in highly visible civic spaces. In January 1969, one of the first public demonstrations for gay and lesbian rights took place at the Binnenhof in The Hague, organized by student groups opposing Article 248bis, which imposed unequal legal standards based on sexual orientation.[11] More than one hundred participants gathered, marking a shift from private advocacy to public demonstration.
In the years that followed, the squatters’ movement responded to a national housing shortage and the deliberate vacancy of buildings, occupying spaces and organizing collectively.[12] This tension became highly visible in 1980 during protests surrounding Queen Beatrix’s coronation, when demonstrators marched under the slogan “Geen woning, geen kroning.”
[1969-01-21] Demonstration against legislation regarding homosexual contacts at the Binnenhof: young people with banners and signs. Learn More
[1980-03-07] Commission for Volkskrant; text: "no home: no coronation" on a fence at the Haarlemmer Houttuinen. Learn More
• Mass mobilization and scale
In the early 1980s, anti-nuclear protests in the Netherlands reached a scale not seen since the end of the Second World War. During the period known as Hollanditis, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Amsterdam and The Hague to oppose the deployment of nuclear weapons.[13]
[1981-02-06] Demonstration against the introduction of the neutron bomb at the American consulate in Amsterdam. Learn More
[1978-03-18] Massive demonstration against Neutron bomb; overview of the demonstration. Learn More
• Eerherstel, 1988
n the 1980s, Ernestine Comvalius encountered the work of Anton de Kom through independent research. His absence from formal education led her and other members of LOSON to study archival materials at the International Institute of Social History, working through newspapers and records from his lifetime.[6]
In 1988, the organization launched a petition demanding eerherstel, or rehabilitation, for de Kom. Without digital platforms, the campaign relied on printed materials, public demonstrations, and media attention. A protest march accompanied the petition, along with a proposal to name a public square after him.
A square in Amsterdam Zuidoost was eventually named in his honor, though broader official recognition developed more slowly.[6] Among the materials produced during this campaign was a protest banner bearing his name.
• The Source
The 1988 banner calling for the rehabilitation of Anton de Kom forms the primary reference for VTC Wij. Its letterforms are upright, consistent in stroke weight, and nearly uniform in width. Each character occupies a similar horizontal space, regardless of its internal structure. These proportions reflect the conditions in which the banner was made, where clarity and speed were essential.
Because most reference materials were hand-made rather than printed, the process focused on identifying what remained consistent across different hands. The uppercase S, for example, appeared in multiple variations throughout the archive. Three shared a structural logic that aligned with the broader set and were included. A fourth, constructed entirely from vertical and horizontal strokes, did not share this logic and was excluded.
These selected forms informed not only the uppercase but also the lowercase s and numerals such as 2 and 5, where fewer references existed. A similar pattern appears in the construction of M and W. In most examples, the central vertex of the M sits at or above the midpoint of the cap height, rather than reaching the bottom. The W follows the same principle, with its vertex falling between the midpoint and halfway to the baseline.
The Dutch digraph “IJ,” drawn consistently in banners from Wij Vrouwen Eisen, is incorporated as a single character, reflecting its role within the language.
• From Archive to Use
The typeface was first used in a public mural in Breda, where a quote by Anton de Kom was presented in both Dutch and English. Positioned within the city, the mural extends the function of protest typography into a contemporary setting.
The project also appeared in exhibition and print, including a poster exhibition at 3sec Gallery and a publication produced for Koppermaandag, bringing the work into both public and printed contexts.
Through workshops, students used the same letterforms to create their own posters, addressing issues relevant to their lives. In this context, the typeface becomes part of an ongoing process in which people continue to write, assemble, and make their messages visible in public space.
REFERENCES
[1] Graphic Matters, “CHARACTERS: Voices in Type”
[2] Graphic Matters, “Free Today, Free Forever”
[3] Graphic Matters, “Laat Letters Spreken (Workshop)”
[4] Graphic Matters, “Voices in Type Assembly (Event)”
[5] Wikipedia, “Anton de Kom”
[6] The Black Archives, “Eerherstel voor Anton de Kom is nog steeds nodig”
[7] Wikipedia, “Indonesian National Revolution”
[8] e-flux Architecture, “Not for Surinamese: How Amsterdam Closed Entire Neighborhoods to Non-White Dutch People”
[9] Nationaal Archief, “Dolle Mina Protests (Photo Collection)”
[10] Nationaal Archief, “Wij Vrouwen Eisen Demonstrations (Photo Collection)”
[11] Wikipedia, “LGBTQ Rights in the Netherlands”
[12] Nationaal Archief, “Dutch Squatters’ Movement (Photo Collection)”
[13] Wikipedia, “Hollanditis”