The Project
For a number of years we have worked toward sharing the image collection with visitors. The images are regularly being used as visual support in exhibits, but the diversity and extent of the collection has never been brought to light. Belgian historian and Research Associate Sarah Maya Vercruysse launched this project in September 2019. Starting with a mountain of possibilities and open-ended instructions, she created this exhibit.
During the first weeks I went through the thousands of slides and photographs. On one day I would find myself in Papua New Guinea, Rapa Nui, Nubia and China. The next day I would virtually time-travel from 1950s Europe, to the 1970s Northwest Coast, and the middle of the Inca ruins in the 1980s. I must admit, there are worse days for someone who researches the past鈥�
In order to make the selection easier - without losing the diversity of the collection - I concentrated my search mainly on the collections of the major donors, such as those of Dr. Barbara Winter, Dr. Basil Cooke, Dr. Roy Carlson, Dr. Richard Shutler, Dr. Arnoud Stryd, Dr. Wolfgang G. Jilek and Dr. Louise Jilek-Aall. These academics were active in diverse study areas and on different continents. Their donations give a good representation of the museum's entire photographic collection.
My additional selection criteria were:
- Is the image of archaeological or anthropological importance?
- Can I find relevant information on the UNESCO World Heritage website, in academic journals or books?
- Is the resolution of the image sufficient?
- Has the picture artistic value and does it have good compositional qualities?
After much deliberation, I finally arrived at around 250 images that I grouped by continent. Depending the information that donors and/or volunteers noted on the slides, I was able to find the exact dates and locations of the images. Additional research gave me more information on the illustrated sites, objects or people, as well as on their importance.
The next step was to prepare the images for printing. After a small introduction to Photoshop I was able to restore the colours of the images that had shifted over time and remove dust spots, scratches and other irregularities. This modification did not intend to modify the nature of the image or to intervene in the scenes. In a final step the images were resized, printed and wrapped to be exhibited in the Museum Gallery.
