Blad 154 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1948 - 1949

This is page 154 from the register of students at the Colonial School for Girls and Women in The Hague, dating from between 1930 and 1949. The composition is dominated by a grid-like structure, imposed by the ruled lines and columns, segmenting the page into discrete fields of information. This formal organization is indicative of a structuralist approach to cataloging and controlling knowledge, reducing individuals to measurable data points within a larger system. Notice how handwriting disrupts this rigid order. Each entry becomes an assertion of individuality, pushing against the homogenizing impulse of the grid. Photographs are affixed to the document, further humanizing it by contrasting with the text. Here, we see how the act of inscription becomes a battleground between structure and agency, reflecting larger cultural anxieties around identity, colonialism, and the role of women in Dutch society. The material itself becomes a powerful signifier of the social structures it both embodies and challenges.