Groepsportret van drie Indiase vrouwen in Calcutta c. 1870 - 1900

Editor: So, here we have what’s called "Groepsportret van drie Indiase vrouwen in Calcutta," a photograph from sometime between 1870 and 1900. It strikes me as a really staged and formal image, yet their direct gazes give it a powerful intimacy. What do you make of the symbolism and how it operates here? Curator: Well, let’s begin with the obvious visual cues. Notice how their clothing and jewelry are not just adornment; they speak to identity, status, and belonging. Think about how the arrangement—the central figure slightly elevated, flanked by the other two— subtly hints at social hierarchies, maybe even kinship. Can we read this in the symbols of their ornamentation? Editor: You mean how the ornamentation differs across the three women? That's interesting. Curator: Exactly! The act of photographing, particularly during this period, also carried its own cultural weight. The Western gaze often exoticized and Othered those outside its norms. The presence of classical European architectural elements -- column and vase -- might subtly suggest whose cultural values are being emphasized here. Are the subjects in control of their own representation? Or does it succumb to Western artistic conventions? Editor: That makes me think about the title, and how it categorizes them in a certain way – their own identities perhaps less important than their function, whatever that might be. Curator: Indeed. Look beyond the surface. These symbols speak to us from across time. What do they say about power, representation, and cultural exchange? Editor: I never considered the symbolic dialogue happening just within the jewelry itself. Now I'm thinking about the complexities of representation in colonial India, and the different layers of meaning embedded in a single photograph. Curator: And how that resonates even today. Symbols can transcend time, reminding us of the constant interplay of identity and perception.