Portret van een onbekende man in uniform before 1902

Editor: So, this photograph, a gelatin-silver print before 1902, shows up in a book. It's titled "Portret van een onbekende man in uniform" – Portrait of an unknown man in uniform, by Johannes Meiner. I'm immediately struck by the performative aspect, it looks like a costume. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It’s interesting to consider this staged photograph within its historical moment. The late 19th/early 20th century saw rapid changes in social structures and visibility. Military uniforms often became associated with a certain social mobility for some while signifying oppression or restriction for others, depending on your gender, class or race. So, what narratives of power do you see at play here? Editor: I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. He appears powerful because of the uniform, but the "unknown man" title undermines that power? Curator: Precisely! Think about who had access to photographic portraiture then, and the purpose it served. Was it meant to immortalize or to make visible? How might this ‘unknown’ status play into or resist dominant narratives about identity and representation? Are there aspects beyond gender or class to this man that render him truly ‘unknown’ at that time? Editor: It's fascinating to consider how the photograph both presents and obscures aspects of identity. Curator: Exactly! And that tension is precisely where we find rich ground for examining the power dynamics embedded within visual representation. We must always question what an image does, to whom, and what it potentially hides.