Groep militairen met gevangenen voor de Turtle Tower op het Hoan-Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam before 1896

Curator: I suppose you're going to start by asking about this historical photograph of soldiers with prisoners in front of the Turtle Tower? Editor: Indeed! I am curious to get your take on this print. It looks like a gelatin silver print, attributed to A. Suais. It depicts a military group with prisoners right in front of that iconic Turtle Tower on Hoan-Kiem Lake in Hanoi. This gelatin print, with its orientalist aesthetic... I immediately notice a contrast between the serenity of the landscape and the palpable tension suggested by the figures. What strikes you most? Curator: That “palpable tension”... That's precisely the kind of sensitive viewing I hope for. When I look at the print, my imagination just flows through a history, thinking about everything happening before and after this moment: a tower meant to protect and then becoming just a landmark overlooking subjugation, perhaps? What a potent juxtaposition, wouldn’t you agree? A lovely picture... It almost doesn’t even seem real, just an imagined place and time that Suais cleverly rendered through a lens. Editor: That's fascinating, I had not even thought about the layers of time embedded in it... the multiple, competing purposes. Is that sense of unreality something that photographs of this period often evoke? Curator: Quite possibly... What seems permanent becomes so fleeting and what seems unique becomes generic. As a window onto another world, I find it melancholic. Editor: Thinking about that tension and that landmark now really gives me so much more to consider as I continue to explore prints and photographs! Curator: Same here; talking through it with you definitely changed my perspective, too.