Troepen rijden door Adderly Street, Kaapstad, op weg naar het front 1900

Editor: This albumen print from 1900 captures troops riding through Adderley Street in Cape Town, heading towards the front. Looking at it, I can't help but feel a certain sense of melancholy, even amidst the apparent fanfare. It makes you think about the relationship between displays of strength and the realities of conflict. What strikes you about this photograph? Curator: What strikes me is the staged nature of the image. It’s not simply a record of troops moving through a city, but a constructed visual designed to project power and order. Consider the photographic publishing company, Underwood & Underwood; they understood the market for these kinds of patriotic displays. Who do you think the intended audience was for this photograph, and what message were they meant to receive? Editor: I'd imagine the audience would primarily be folks back in Britain or perhaps other parts of the Empire, and the message would be one of control and might, solidifying the justification for the conflict. It's almost like propaganda, even if subtle. But how does the actual scene depicted – the city itself, the people – complicate that message, if at all? Curator: Precisely! Notice how the imposing colonial architecture dominates the frame. The photograph presents an image of a well-ordered and structured urban environment ready to embrace British presence, projecting imperial stability. Yet the photograph inadvertently captures the human cost: ordinary people gathered on the sidewalks, bystanders to a military parade on their home streets. Editor: So the photo, seemingly designed to project power, simultaneously reveals a disruption of everyday life. This adds a layer of complexity I hadn't initially considered. It makes me wonder about the agency of the photographer, and the unavoidable realities they captured. Curator: And what impact do you think this photograph and its distribution would have on shaping public opinion towards the war and colonialism more generally? Editor: It is amazing to see how seemingly straightforward images, like this one, can be unpacked to reveal such complicated narratives about power, control and society’s influence on artistic creation. Curator: Indeed. Art, in any form, cannot escape its cultural context.