Op de veranda van Heerenstraat 18 in Paramaribo. 1913 - 1930

Theodoor Brouwers created this small photo of the veranda of Heerenstraat 18 in Paramaribo, likely with a portable camera, capturing a scene of everyday life. The photograph seems to have emerged from the shadows, a process of light and dark, revealing figures in repose. I wonder what Brouwers was thinking as he composed this shot? Did he see himself as an observer, documenting a moment in time, or was he trying to say something more about life in Paramaribo? Look at the way the figures are arranged, each in their own chair, yet connected by the shared space of the veranda. There's a sense of quiet contemplation here, a pause in the day's activities. It reminds me of the way painters like Manet or Degas would capture similar scenes of bourgeois life, finding beauty in the ordinary. Brouwers’s photograph makes me think about the artists’ conversations across time and place.