Fotoreproductie van Feenmarchen 1870 - 1890

Curator: My eye is immediately drawn to this sense of quiet intimacy. It’s as if we've stumbled upon a secret, personal moment. Editor: Indeed! This photograph, whose title translates as “Photo reproduction of Fairytale Sceneries”, seems to capture that essence. It was produced sometime between 1870 and 1890, and is created through the gelatin-silver print process. What is striking is the construction of childhood within these years, both culturally and historically. Curator: Yes, a cultural snapshot! I get a profound sense of wistful, naive longing from her posture, her absorbed gaze. And that light! It really elevates the ordinary to something almost sacred. Do you think that's a projection on my part, considering, that it is just a child in front of an obvious prop? Editor: Possibly. Considering its creation period, photography had just entered the medium, but it carried enormous representational power. Note how the staged studio environment constructs and controls perceptions of gender and class. That’s interesting as this control allowed both social constructs to evolve as desired through its manipulation of reality. It really forces us to ask about the identity, privilege and place of this specific child. Curator: True. And thinking of identity: photography during this period also engaged with scientific themes of racial representation and physiognomy. In what ways is the romantic innocence and presumed docility of this reading girl mobilized within race science's colonial and nationalist frameworks? Editor: These are complex questions to untangle. Perhaps the anonymous photographer consciously leaned into, and/or rejected, the more unsettling potential of this medium, instead opting for a portrayal that reinforced contemporary beliefs in a particular childhood archetype? I do get that this seemingly innocent picture also operated on other more contentious intellectual and cultural registers. Curator: I’m starting to rethink my first impressions. Editor: That’s the magic of this photo, and thinking with art! Thanks to our journey, I, too, see beyond surface appearance toward recognizing the power dynamics woven within historical and social frameworks.