Surinaamse Caraïben op een erf in de Saramaccastraat, Paramaribo 1903 - 1910

Hendrik Doijer made this photograph, Surinaamse Caraïben op een erf in de Saramaccastraat, Paramaribo, at an undetermined date using an analogue camera. The sepia tone and shallow focal depth give the photo a dreamlike quality, like a memory half-recalled. Look at how the light rakes across the wooden structures. You can almost feel the texture of the wood. The people in the image, though still, seem caught in a moment of daily life. The composition is informal, asymmetrical. The eye meanders, discovering different focal points, like the child looking directly at the camera. The lack of clear focus makes it less about perfect representation and more about feeling. This reminds me of some of August Sander’s documentary portraits. There is a similar unvarnished quality, a sense of simply recording what is there without imposing a narrative. Art is about letting go of control, about being open to what emerges in the process. Each mark, each photograph, an invitation to see differently, to feel deeply.