Blad 5 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1930 - 1936

Curator: Let’s take a look at "Blad 5 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949)". We believe it dates from somewhere around 1930 to 1936. It’s an intriguing mixed-media work including prints and photographs on paper, a page from the register of a Dutch Colonial School. Editor: Well, immediately I'm struck by the feeling of contained lives. The neatly ruled lines, the regimented entries alongside the charmingly individual portraits – it's poignant. Curator: It's a fascinating record, offering individual photographic portraits beside more bureaucratic details. We see signatures, locations – like Semarang in Indonesia – and snippets about their lives. Editor: The faces are just beautiful! It’s interesting how even these very small, formal photos manage to convey something personal, their personalities just poking through! I wonder about each of them, what were their dreams? What sort of women were they, going to the Dutch colonies? Curator: Colonialism shaped so much of the 20th Century, and works like these force us to reckon with its history and effects. The blend of formal record keeping with individual portraiture raises compelling questions. What does it mean to reduce a life to a name, a photograph and a signature in a ledger? How much do these elements of the record really tell? Editor: Exactly. It also raises broader questions of image, memory, and identity that really transcend any particular historical moment. It makes you think about our obsession with capturing every aspect of our lives online. Are we all just entries in some giant database now, each with our carefully curated profile pictures? Curator: Absolutely, the impulse to catalogue and classify… it speaks to such fundamental aspects of how we try to make sense of the world, even today. Editor: And I appreciate how intimate and revealing such simple forms are! I could spend hours with this page!