Verkleed gezelschap poseert in een tuin 1908 - 1910

Augusta Curiel made this photograph in a garden, calling it "Verkleed Gezelschap Poseert in een Tuin"—which means something like "Dressed Up Group Posing in a Garden." I love how the light falls across this scene, catching the edges of the costumes and the leaves, but look closer—the composition is so theatrical! This is a group who agreed to participate in something, and it makes me wonder what it was like to be part of this collective effort. I imagine Curiel directing people, moving them around like shapes in a painting, considering the textures of their outfits. It’s such a staged scene and I wonder what stories lie beneath these characters, under all those layers of fabric and pretense. What were they like outside of the frame? Photographers like Curiel were definitely in conversation with painters. What can photography do that painting can't? This image asks us to consider photography as a medium for documenting reality and creating worlds. Both practices blur the lines between observation and invention, truth and fiction.