Gezicht op de Pier te Port Elizabeth 1880 - 1894

Curator: This photograph is entitled "View of the Pier at Port Elizabeth." It's attributed to Robert Harris, and we believe it was taken between 1880 and 1894, rendered as a gelatin-silver print. Editor: There’s a starkness to this print. The composition focuses attention toward a seemingly bustling dockyard, a very interesting array of textures with those muted sepia tones. It really emphasizes the working character. Curator: Exactly. The Port Elizabeth pier was vital to the region’s economy at that time. These colonial harbors were, quite literally, points of connection, reflecting flows of people and resources. You can almost sense the frenetic colonial aspirations in that composition. Editor: And how interesting, formally, the arrangement of ships fading into the distance. It certainly speaks to a sense of constant exchange and connection, if one can see beyond what you describe as a 'frenetic' aspiration. Curator: Perhaps frenetic is too harsh, but these port cities of the late 19th century were often flashpoints for cultural exchange and, sometimes, cultural conflict. The image shows not only a literal structure for trade but also a representation of the wider systems at play within a colonial society. This area of South Africa underwent profound economic transformation around the turn of the century. Editor: The detail that Harris has captured! You see every structural element of the pier with clear light, as well as the human figures giving depth and scale. One senses it also expresses some sort of underlying order within all this apparent activity. Curator: I agree completely; a clear reflection of imperial ambition at work. You almost have the sense that we're invited to partake in that ambition when you witness how bustling this photo truly is. It brings life to this landscape of international trade. Editor: Ultimately, for me it brings together material presence and suggestion of an ordered dynamism. I find something oddly pleasing about it all. Curator: A picture can indeed convey volumes about the mechanics of its time. Let’s move on.