Plantage Accaribo 1913 - 1930

Theodoor Brouwers made this stereo card photograph called 'Plantage Accaribo' sometime between 1890 and 1932. I love that the title names the plantation itself, drawing our focus to a very particular place. There’s a stillness here, a quiet, and a gentleness. I can feel the artist considering the scene before him, waiting for the right moment to capture this very ordinary moment in time. You know, it reminds me a little of the way Fairfield Porter would approach a painting of his backyard, finding profundity in the everyday. The soft focus reminds me that looking and seeing are not always the same. In fact, the eye is never at rest, it darts around, creating the world bit by bit. I see the two figures in the garden and wonder at their relationship to this place. I wonder at their relationship to each other. We are all connected, one way or another.