Blad 139 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1946 - 1949

This page from a student register at The Hague’s Colonial School for Girls and Women was made some time between 1930 and 1949. It's a pretty direct piece of work, really, all bureaucratic forms and monochrome images, and yet, you can tell that someone cared about the project, in a way. The photographs pasted in beside the entries are fascinating. The images aren’t high art, more snapshots, but they give these names a sense of individuality. I’m drawn to the group photo in the lower corner. Look at how everyone is arranged around that table, some smiling, some thoughtful. The whole thing reminds me of the work of someone like Christian Boltanski, especially how he collects and arranges found photographs. There’s a similar sense of preserving memory, even if it's anonymous. Art is an ongoing conversation about how we make sense of who we are, and how we remember.