Blad 92 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1937

This page, 'Blad 92', is from a student register created in The Hague between 1930-1949. The layout is so compelling, right? Someone was carefully working on this, using ink to draw up the ruled lines, and different handwriting styles for each entry, which speaks to the individuality of the students it represents. I’m interested in the contrast between the rigid structure of the table, and the slightly wonky, personal quality of the photographic portraits. See, in the fourth row down, how that photo is pasted slightly off-center? It almost feels like a deliberate act of defiance against the grid. The fading and discolorations around each photo also tells a story – of time, material and human touch. This piece reminds me of the work of Hanne Darboven. Darboven used repetitive, grid-like systems of writing and calculation to explore the passage of time and question the nature of structure, similar to the way this page represents time and structure. The page isn’t necessarily about what it depicts, but how it constructs different ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world.