Groepsportret bij de sluis van plantage Accaribo 1928 - 1932

Curator: Let's take a look at this gelatin-silver print currently housed in the Rijksmuseum. It's a work made sometime between 1928 and 1932 by an anonymous photographer. It’s entitled, "Groepsportret bij de sluis van plantage Accaribo" or "Group Portrait by the Accaribo Plantation Lock" in English. What's your first impression? Editor: Melancholy. It’s an outdoor scene, but the monochrome drains it of vibrancy, making everything seem a bit muted and distant. It gives a contemplative feeling, as if remembering a past era, or imagining some unrepeatable lived reality. Curator: Absolutely. The gelatin-silver printing process itself is fascinating here, think of the specific materials involved in creating the image and then further the ways that it influences its aesthetic. We should not undermine the role of photographic technology during this era of documenting the colonial landscape of Suriname and shaping a very distinct kind of memory around plantations. Editor: That's an important consideration. The way the image almost seems to blend realism with something dreamlike reminds me a lot of some of the historical fiction, where a particular event is framed and re-framed until only the echoes and shadows of its reality remain. I think about those families near that lock—what are they waiting for? What does that infrastructure represent in the context of their lives? Curator: These are the hard questions that must be asked to ensure the work is not seen merely through aesthetics or composition but via lived and constructed reality. One crucial element to recognize is the complicated dynamic between indigenous communities, colonialism, and labor exploitation as documented through this photography. We cannot view such pictures as benign portrayals without accounting for unequal dynamics embedded into their very creation and function as image and document. Editor: Yes, this photograph serves as a record but also invites an active reckoning. I like to think that we may see beyond mere historical documents. I love to wonder about the humanity enshrined there, the human interactions and silent narratives swirling in the background that make you remember yourself! Curator: Right. Recognizing and grappling with layered dimensions is critical, so people are free to construct new conversations instead of only reinforcing narratives! It leaves us with the lingering awareness of a landscape irrevocably changed. Editor: Precisely! The picture does not seek only to speak about then and there, but here and now. The humanity frozen on the silver-gelatine whispers its tales of persistence!