Groepsfoto van het bezoek aan de leprozerie Pelantoengan 1931 - 1935

Here is a group photograph of a visit to the Pelantoengan leprosarium by Otto Hisgen, though no date is given it makes me wonder about the technology he would have been using to take the picture, and the technology we use to look at it. The grayscale pulls the past into the present, making it feel closer, but also more distant. Look how Hisgen uses light and shadow to define the figures; the contrast between the bright uniforms and the darker faces is so clear. I'm intrigued by the expressions on the faces of the people. Notice how the composition leads your eye, first to the men and women in white, then to the darker figures standing or sitting behind them. The texture of the building and the plants in the foreground adds a sense of depth. It reminds me of Eugène Atget, who documented the streets of Paris. Both artists captured the everyday, revealing the poetry in the mundane. It makes you think about the nature of seeing, remembering, and what it means to record a moment in time.