Blad 90 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1937

This is a page from a student register created between 1930-1949 at the Colonial School for Girls and Women in The Hague. You can see the writing laid out in neat lines and columns, and next to that, a couple of black and white photographs pasted into the register. The handwriting gives it all away. Each letter is carefully rendered in a way that is reminiscent of the way one paints, slowly and methodically. I'm struck by the differences in the signatures, the way the ink sits on the page, some heavier, others lighter. These marks are full of personality and history. The photograph of the family in the sailboat has a particular resonance with the marks on the page. It's the kind of photo you can imagine someone carrying around with them, dreaming of the sea. Like Cy Twombly's use of handwriting, this piece uses the imperfection of the handwritten line to evoke a sense of human emotion and experience. It's a reminder that art is really just a conversation, across time, across media.