glasnegatief c. 1895 - 1925

Editor: This is a glass negative, taken between 1895 and 1925 by W.G. Hondius van den Broek. The print shows a building named "De Zonnebloem," or "The Sunflower," with a few figures out front. Given its age and its inverted color, there's something dreamlike and eerie about it. What stories do you see hidden in this photograph? Curator: The inversion is key, isn’t it? It presents a symbolic reversal – the shadow becoming the substance. This, coupled with the name “Zonnebloem” conjures a potent duality. Sunflowers traditionally symbolize adoration and longevity, almost always facing the sun. Yet here, the negative creates an image of their absence, of light inverted. The figures are ghost-like. Are they really there, or are they figures from the past? What feelings do the "shadows" elicit from you? Editor: Well, it almost feels like a memory fading or a premonition... sort of suspended in time. So, this image, playing with shadow and light, with presence and absence… what was the significance of reversing that typical bright image for the photograph, then? Curator: Perhaps a contemplation of mortality. Photographs, even then, froze a moment, yet glass negatives hint at something more fragile, vulnerable. It challenges our perception of what’s real, prompting us to question the very nature of the subjects presented: people, place and flower. The home as haven is upended into almost a spirit landscape. I would venture, it's an effort to explore how photography can speak not only of what IS but also what WAS and might never be again. A sunflower only faces the sun for so long. Editor: So, it's not just a captured moment, but an active meditation on time, memory, and loss—the life cycle of a flower. It certainly makes you consider how symbols take on a life of their own. Curator: Exactly. Every image carries a burden, a history. And in the end, everything is symbolic.