Drie kinderen in een box 1929

This is a photograph from 1929, taken at the Batak Institute Hospital, it shows three children standing in what looks like a playpen. It has the quality of a found image, something discovered in an old archive. The photo’s monochrome palette makes the forms seem very graphic, like shapes in a drawing. It’s not so much about the details as it is about the general composition. The soft focus and grainy texture give the image a dreamlike quality, blurring the boundaries between the real and the imagined. What strikes me most is the vulnerability of these little figures, they are presented as case studies or specimens, with scientific measurements alongside the image. The fence around them feels both protective and confining, raising questions about care, control, and observation. It’s like a stage, and the children are performers in some unspoken drama. This work reminds me a little of Diane Arbus, who also had a gift for finding the strange and unsettling in the everyday.