Groepsportret van onbekende Indonesiërs in de haven van Amsterdam 1890 - 1920

S. Herz made this photograph of Indonesians in the port of Amsterdam, but we don't know exactly when. This is one of those pictures where the material of it—the sepia tone of the print, its small scale—conveys so much. It makes me think about the history of photography, and how it was originally used to document and classify people, places, and things. The figures here are arranged in a way that's both formal and casual, like they're posing for a class photo but also just hanging out by the docks. I'm drawn to the way the light falls on the figures in the foreground, how it captures the texture of their clothing and skin, but blurs the details of their faces. It's like they're present and absent at the same time, reminding us of the limitations of photography as a medium, and the ways in which it can both reveal and conceal. Think about that tension between the technology of photography and the reality of these people's lives; it reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter's blurred photographs-turned-paintings.