Klipsteenstraat en Emmaschool, Paramaribo 1903 - 1910

Hendrik Doijer’s photograph, Klipsteenstraat en Emmaschool, Paramaribo, captured a street scene, probably with a camera, in a time before digital manipulation. The silvery grays and deep blacks are a study in contrasts, each building and figure emerging from the shadows. The photograph is a physical record, and it’s fascinating to consider the surface of the image. The tonal range gives the whole scene a kind of hazy, dreamlike feel, like memory itself. Take a look at the way the light catches the woman in the foreground, her back turned. She's standing on a set of tracks. The light creates a halo effect around her hat, drawing the eye. The stark realism of the photograph reminds me of Eugène Atget. Like Atget, Doijer captured everyday life, not as a staged spectacle, but as a quiet, unfolding narrative. It reminds us that art is often about seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.