Blad 65 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1935

This is page 65 from a register of students at the Colonial School for Girls and Women in The Hague. The very existence of such a school tells us something about its time, but it’s the handwriting, the faded ink, the clipped photographs, and the signatures that I find especially interesting. There’s something so incredibly human and idiosyncratic about handwriting. Each entry is distinct, like a fingerprint. The flow of the cursive script and the density of ink differ from one student to the next. When you consider that it was written with a nib, with pressure and intention, it makes you think about how we make our mark in the world, or how history makes its mark on us. Consider the photograph next to one signature; a young woman poses with a dog. It speaks of life beyond the bureaucracy of this ledger, of small joys and connections. Like a painting, this book invites us to linger, reflect, and imagine lives that have come before us. Perhaps like the work of Moyra Davey, the artist finds beauty in the everyday.