Stafofficieren onderweg in Batavia 1903

Robert Julius Boers made this stereograph called "Staff Officers on the Road in Batavia." It's sepia-toned, like memory itself, and gives us a glimpse into a bustling scene. Imagine Boers setting up his camera, composing the shot, and waiting for the right moment, for these officers to come into view. You know, it’s funny, as a painter I spend so much time thinking about how to flatten things, how to take the world and make it into an image. Boers is doing the opposite! He is using the technology of the stereograph to try to create a feeling of depth. I wonder what Boers was thinking about as he made this image, and what it would have been like to be one of the staff officers. Like all paintings, or photographs, this is a record of a moment and an invitation to imagine the world through someone else's eyes. It is a conversation across time.