Blad 56 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1934

This spread from a ledger was made in the Netherlands some time between 1930 and 1949, probably with ink and paper. Imagine the person who made this, carefully writing the names and dates, making a kind of drawing with their hand. There's something meditative about that work, filling in the columns so neatly. It’s like each line is a gesture, a mark that builds up a bigger picture of the school and its students. The thinness of the line here is interesting. It has a certain quality of fragility and transparency. It contrasts to the bold strokes of someone like Franz Kline, who has a very different way of expressing himself with line, but is very controlled. In a way, the person who wrote this page is in conversation with all those who make marks, all those who try to capture something with a line. It's an ongoing exchange across time, inspiring each other's creativity. It's not about perfection, but about the act of doing, the embodied expression that embraces ambiguity and allows for multiple readings.