Gouvernementspaleis te Paramaribo 1925 - 1927

This small photograph depicts the Gouvernementspaleis in Paramaribo, its creator now unknown. I'm looking at the way light and shadow play across the building’s façade. The photographer must have been thinking about composition, how to frame this grand structure. What was it like to capture this moment in time? The building itself, with its arched colonnades and symmetrical design, evokes a sense of order and power, doesn't it? The image is very grey; how does it feel to look at something so drained of colour? And the statue in front, standing guard, as it were. Maybe there are a lot of photos like this of colonial buildings, and those photographers are all talking to each other, knowingly or unknowingly. Every artist is participating in a conversation across time and place! Each work is an answer and a question.