Blaak met Zeevischmarkt 1940

Curator: Look at this image; it feels like stepping back into history. Editor: It really does. Immediately I see a kind of stark, unassuming reality—a straightforward recording. Curator: This is "Blaak met Zeevischmarkt" by Alie Rondberg-Vrauwdëunt, taken around 1940. It's one of the photographs contained in her scrapbook. Here we see three photos mounted together. Editor: You know, the framing and arrangement of the mounted photographs actually says as much as any single image itself. Consider that she grouped three views on the same page… What does that act of combination represent, the logic that is, by which she assembled this spread? Curator: Good point. There’s almost a nostalgic echo in the monochrome—it emphasizes a bygone era so dramatically. It feels more distant. And seeing the water of that fish market… Editor: Right, I'm particularly interested in the labor hinted at, like the construction of those buildings along the waterside. Curator: Absolutely, and those trams moving down the street! This image offers an intimacy through everyday labor, the movement of people, and the tangible energy of that moment in the city. Editor: I wonder, also, how the means of photography here allowed Rundberg-Vrauwdëunt to engage her urban world and in what ways it potentially altered her perspective. The camera’s lens mediating experience, you might say. Curator: It seems more documentarian but with that artist's special care, perhaps not entirely objective but honest? Editor: Indeed. A critical piece of material evidence and lived urban experience from the early 1940's—this work is so rich and subtle. Curator: Agreed; so much life held in a fragile photographic album, carefully assembled, each piece carefully adhered—it speaks to its time but resonates still so loudly.