Reisalbum met foto's van bezienswaardigheden in Marseille, Port Said, Aden, Bombay, Colombo, Singapore en Nederlands-Indië c. 1870 - 1910

Curator: This is a travel album with photos from Marseille to Indonesia, created between 1870 and 1910. The makers? Various hands, anonymous really, assembled at the Rijksmuseum. A tangible ghost of wanderlust. What hits you first? Editor: Oh, that subdued ruby red of the cover! It whispers 'well-worn,' doesn't it? I feel this intimate, almost nostalgic pull. It looks like it holds countless stories. I imagine flipping through its fragile pages, sunlight filtering through old glass. Curator: "Souvenir de Voyage", indeed! This phrase really tells us everything. Beyond the landscapes, beyond the faces, it’s about memory itself. What do travel souvenirs really mean? Do they allow us to own an experience somehow, or simply give us an anchor in a life that just slips on by? Editor: That inscription is interesting—a claim on the fleeting. The "souvenir" transformed from object to vessel—it has everything to do with continuity. People from distant ports connected to each other through visual storytelling. But you see something deeper here than mere photography? Curator: I think the album is more like an autobiographical statement told through external locations. Each place chosen, each image selected is part of a carefully constructed self-portrait. And don't forget the silent conversation between who made it and us now looking at it, it makes us consider ourselves too! Editor: Yes, exactly! This little artifact holds a mirror to the soul – the collector's, the photographed, even our own. Curator: Makes you think about our own carefully curated online presences, doesn't it? Are our Instagram feeds all that different from this carefully assembled album of yesteryear? I love the connection through time. Editor: Beautifully put. It's a poignant reminder of our enduring quest to capture, remember, and somehow, just maybe, hold on. Curator: It seems this "souvenir" did more than remember; it created, and still does, and isn't that a magical voyage in itself?