Tiny Kleiterp op een paard dat wordt vastgehouden door een Javaanse man te Batoedjadjar 1924

This photograph, 'Tiny Kleiterp op een paard dat wordt vastgehouden door een Javaanse man te Batoedjadjar', was taken by Klaas Kleiterp. It is an image of contrasts, light and shadow, dark and light, native man and European child. Look at the way the light falls on the child's white clothing, making it stand out against the darker tones of the man and horse. The texture of the print is soft, almost dreamlike, like a memory fading at the edges. What I find interesting is the way the photograph is composed. The adult is cropped out, we can see more of the child. It's as if the photographer is saying, "Here is a moment, a small moment, that encapsulates a larger story." The photograph is less about a particular person and more about a specific place and time. It shares similarities with the staged photographs of early Jeff Wall, but the sense of storytelling is more subtle and allusive.