Deels uitgeknipt groepsportret van deelnemers aan een cursus van de Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage c. 1930s - 1940s

Curator: This silver gelatin print, likely from the 1930s or 40s, presents a group portrait—or rather, a partially excised group portrait. The work, title being "Deels uitgeknipt groepsportret van deelnemers aan een cursus van de Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage," which translates to "Partly cut-out group portrait of participants in a course at the Colonial School for Girls and Women in The Hague." Editor: Gosh, what a melancholic vibe. It’s got that serious, almost wary air of old photographs. The partial cropping, I’d hazard, gives it the eerie feeling you get when you realize history is full of untold stories and hidden figures. Like there's so much we can't see. Curator: Indeed. The missing portion activates a negative space that implies loss, or at the very least, deliberate exclusion. Compositionally, we can see the sitters, primarily young women, arranged in tiers, hinting at hierarchies of knowledge perhaps emblematic of the colonial schooling system itself. The faces—those we *can* see—project varying degrees of engagement and reservation. Note the texture of the coats and the contrast with the flatness of the wall, an exterior. The tonality favors middle gray scales, reinforcing its documentary purpose while paradoxically distancing us from it through its aesthetic construction. Editor: It makes you wonder *who* was snipped away and *why.* Those fur collars look heavy and restrictive, though. And everyone looks so formal... except, if you squint, that young woman at the bottom seems like she might just have a hint of a smile. Curator: Perhaps a subtle defiance. Yet the print's material qualities, particularly the physical act of excising parts, further complicates any straightforward interpretation. Consider the hand, the agent of removal – its motivations. What historical forces are embodied here? The composition draws the eye back to those missing components. Editor: You can’t help but conjure stories, right? Each figure seems laden with a past, and then *someone* just physically erases portions of it. It adds another layer, doesn't it? Gives you a funny sense of time, loss, and the power that inheres even in historical images. Like whispers you can nearly catch on the wind. Curator: Precisely. Through its formal organization and strategic deconstruction, this portrait prompts an important question about the selective nature of archives and their latent ideologies. Editor: It certainly made me think, not just about the photograph itself, but also about who gets remembered... and how. Curator: An enduring question rendered tangible. Editor: Right then, shall we?