Groepsfoto met Habbema en staf 1910 - 1928

This vintage black and white photograph captures a “Groepsfoto met Habbema en staf”. I see a lot of faces, and some kind of garden or park, so this image seems to be a record of a social gathering. The way the figures are arranged, all aligned and facing forward, makes me think about the act of image-making, about the photographer wanting to freeze a particular moment in time. Who were these people? What were their stories? How did they feel being part of this group, in this place? The photograph invites me to imagine their lives, their relationships, their hopes, and their fears. It is a meditation on the passage of time and the way that images can both preserve and distort memory. Looking at this image, I am reminded of the way that artists are constantly in conversation with one another across time, drawing inspiration from the world around them. It shows me the collaborative nature of artistic expression, where diverse voices and experiences come together to create something greater than the sum of their parts.