Portret van een onbekende vrouw en kind met hoepel 1863 - 1885

This is Jules Delsart’s small photographic print of an unknown woman and child, likely made in the late 19th century. During the late 1800s, the burgeoning middle class embraced photography as a way to mirror the lives of the aristocracy. Carte-de-visite photographs such as this offered ordinary people an affordable way to represent themselves and their families. The photograph offers a peek into the gendered roles of the time. Here we see a woman, likely a mother, standing tall and proper while her child sits, contained, with a hoop. It appears as though the little girl is trapped within the confines of domestic expectations, symbolized by the hoop, and literally by her position seated upon the chair. These images captured a very specific moment in time. Yet they invite us to imagine the stories of the unnamed people within them. What were their dreams and struggles? In what ways did they adhere to or resist societal norms? These are the questions that surface when looking at this image.