Gezicht op een straat in Mahikeng, Zuid-Afrika 1901

Editor: This is "Gezicht op een straat in Mahikeng, Zuid-Afrika," a photograph taken around 1901. It’s an albumen print, so it's got this warm, sepia tone. I am really struck by how…ordinary it seems, given its age. There’s a sense of stillness, of everyday life continuing even though, judging by the writing at the bottom, the location has suffered a ‘desperate siege’. What do you see in this work, Professor? Curator: Ah, stillness... you’ve hit on something crucial. For me, it’s about this tension, isn’t it? That ordinary, almost banal street scene overlaying immense suffering that the residents had only recently faced. It prompts the questions, 'how much of the ‘desperate siege’ remains visible in the everyday' and 'is there a way we can ‘unsee’ that part of the story, just by the photograph’s framing'? The sunlight almost feels complicit in masking recent suffering... Do you see what I mean? It's both real and deliberately unreal all at once, which gets right to the heart of the challenge in approaching historical photos like these. Editor: Definitely. And it's a tricky feeling. The photograph seems so simple at first, but knowing the historical context, the "desperate siege," as it says... it shifts the entire reading of the scene. I am beginning to understand the work’s deeper message. Curator: Precisely! The photograph acts as a portal, not just to a place, but to a past burdened with hidden stories. These images can teach us so much, not only about a specific moment in history but about the very act of looking and remembering. They can inspire creativity by prompting us to explore uncharted perspectives through fresh eyes. Editor: Absolutely! Now, looking at this photo, I'll always question that first, immediate reading, wondering about the hidden narrative and the stories unacknowledged at first glance. Curator: That is it precisely, you see, it’s a constant interplay of exposure and erasure! The visible and the obscured.