Gezicht op Main Street te Port Elizabeth 1880 - 1894

Editor: This is "Gezicht op Main Street te Port Elizabeth," taken sometime between 1880 and 1894 by Robert Harris. It’s a photograph, and it's fascinating seeing a street scene frozen in time like this. How do you approach a work like this, given its historical context and medium? Curator: I’m drawn to the material reality of early photography. Think about the cumbersome equipment, the long exposure times, the limitations of the process. It shaped what could be depicted. The people are mostly blurred, a trace of activity, whereas the architecture, evidence of labor, stands rigid. Editor: So, you're focusing on the photographic process itself and how it influenced the image we see? Curator: Precisely. And consider Port Elizabeth at the time. This image documents the constructed environment and all the material interests, such as signs like ‘Tipper's Furnishing Warehouse’, that comprised the burgeoning South African urban center at that moment. The wide street suggests colonial planning and resource transport. Does that register with you? Editor: It does, now that you point it out. I was mostly seeing a quaint scene, but there's more to it than that. Curator: What happens when you consider this image as a record of resource distribution at the time it was taken and also an example of colonial consumption by people living on stolen land? The technology of photography has created a new way to document social and economic inequity in the built environment, doesn't it? Editor: I’ve definitely learned to look beyond the surface and think more critically about the materials, labor, and underlying social forces at play in what I’m viewing. It makes it much more impactful!