Aanbouw van een winkelpand 1914 - 1919

Editor: This photograph, "Aanbouw van een winkelpand," taken sometime between 1914 and 1919, captures a commercial building under construction. It's anonymous and, I find the photograph's almost detached perspective intriguing, like a record. What symbols or underlying meanings do you find present within it? Curator: The building itself represents aspiration, a striving for progress perhaps, during a tumultuous period. Notice the stark contrast between the ordered, geometric architecture and the lush, organic backdrop of palm trees. This immediately suggests a cultural imposition upon nature, a recurring theme within colonial photography and perhaps an intentional comment on modernity versus tradition. The ladders signify both construction and a reaching upwards. What of the laborers? Editor: Yes, the figures are present but also quite anonymous themselves, even partially obscured. Their presence is essential to the progress you mention but I wonder about their role. Does the architecture embody a tension for you? Curator: Indeed. Observe the shuttered windows and open doorways which suggests something not yet whole, not yet revealed. It could represent opportunity, but also the unknown. How does the photograph then speak of a culture or memory when that representation is incomplete? Think of that commercial venture within its full socio-economic history to find meaning, which takes us beyond merely the surface of construction, but a symbolic construction that impacts culture at the core. Editor: So it is almost a kind of stage then where so much else occurs...That’s an interesting perspective, focusing on the photograph as a moment in an ongoing transformation, rather than a fixed point in time. I will look at photography much more closely going forward. Curator: I'm glad you mentioned the performative potential. Now, if we look back at our image...