Blad 15 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1930 - 1939

This page from a student register at the Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen in The Hague was made in the period between 1930 and 1949. It's made with ink on paper, and the register is an example of the administrative aesthetic – you know, those forms that attempt to contain the uncontainable. I think about the hand that made these notations, trying to wrangle a life story into these tight boxes. What kind of person were they? Were they sympathetic to the students, or were they just going through the motions, ticking boxes and filling lines? Each inscription, a tiny gesture, becomes a piece of a larger story. The portraits pasted next to the names are like small windows, peeking into the past of these young women. In a way, isn’t that what we’re all trying to do? To make a mark, to leave a trace, to say, "I was here, I mattered." And even in the most functional documents, there's a little bit of art, a little bit of life, fighting to get out.