Under the Right Name

The old poster lay rolled up next to Sanne’s keyboard. An elastic band held it closed. Vera recognised the wide border, the text she herself had hung prominently in front of her window weeks earlier. Back then she hadn’t seen anything to question.

‘I’m keeping this with the correction,’ said Sanne. ‘Not on the noticeboard anymore.’

Anouk placed a large transport folder on the empty table. Inside were the six old mounted prints she had selected at home the previous day. The two photographs by Dorus remained, alongside four of her own. One of her images showed the waiting room door; the new reproduction Otto had received had been made from it. She had also chosen the handcart and two photographs of the ordinary work. Without the full sequence around them, they could be read quite differently. She wanted short, precise descriptions to accompany them.

Vera had an hour before she had to return. Yasmin knew where she was; no extra shift had been scheduled for this morning. She would read the section about the delivery to the café. Anouk had also asked her to help check if a visitor could find the two different texts, one with the photos and the other with the correction of the old message.

Sanne first showed the sheet that accompanied the presentation. The photos and the prints were listed separately. Anouk’s work archive, a selection made available by her, two photographs by Dorus van Esch, and his printing work accompanying the series. Their names were in a different typeface from the heading, but the same size as one another.

‘That line is correct,’ said Anouk.

She then pointed to the description of the photograph of the waiting room. Clearing it out for the floor repair. The last word appeared on the next line in the print and was hidden by the edge of the clip. Sanne moved the sheet over a little.

Looking at the work photograph, Anouk read back the corrected description. She had checked it against the old documents and what the people who had worked there told her. The old description of it as night work was gone. An ordinary afternoon activity didn't need to be made any more special just because the photo was black and white.

‘I don't want 'night work' to appear above this after all,’ she said. ‘Then everyone will read that line first.’

Sanne changed the small subheading. She didn't reprint the sheet immediately, but showed the change to Anouk. Vera looked at the four screw holes in the old poster frame. There was a different colour on the wall where it used to hang. Apparently, everything in this room had belonged somewhere else at some point.

Then came the correction. The foundation had initially mistakenly announced the material as a collection belonging to Dorus. The actual provenance and the contributions were mentioned. The planned presentation had been postponed to verify the pieces and the agreements. The limited use was now taking place with Anouk's express permission.

At the reference to the café, Vera stopped.

‘It says here that the return didn't take place,’ she said.

‘Of the five boxes,’ said Sanne.

‘I get that. But anyone reading only this might think that nothing was ever picked up from me.’

Anouk leaned over it. The description of the folder was further down. She suggested bringing it forward briefly: one presentation folder had been delivered via the café and picked up by her; the receipt in question did not describe five archive boxes. Sanne added it. Vera read it from the beginning, without just looking for her own name.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘Your name doesn’t need to be included,’ said Sanne. ‘Just the café.’

Vera thought of the people who had spoken to her about the strange boxes. Not everyone would read this entire sheet. That was no reason to make herself a separate subject on the noticeboard.

‘The café is fine,’ she said. ‘Then I can refer to this.’

Sanne sent Dorus the final wording of the credits too. He had already read the previous version and had no objections to his two images. When the page had been updated, she opened it again as a regular visitor would.

The correction was placed next to the announcement. The sheet also appeared on the noticeboard, close to the small presentation. Sanne did not carry it to the back of a cupboard where only the intake lists were kept. Anouk read the printout and said that this was acceptable.

The loan concerned six old mounted prints. They were coming to De Werf temporarily, until the last Friday of the following month. Anouk received a copy listing every image, with the agreed location and the return date. Any other use would be discussed separately. The negatives and the box of family images remained at her home.

‘I don't want anyone to see this folder and think they can order the rest,’ she said.

From her separate small folder, she took out a proof copy, held it beside the chosen description, and then put it back.

Hugo had been asked to set up the pieces. He came with the supports already present and first looked at the edges of the table. Anouk took the six prints out of the transport folder. Sanne had arranged the spots so that the pieces had support and were not standing close to the doorway. They checked how it looked from the doorway.

Dorus was not there. He had his own work at home, and Bente's next three payment dates were still on her sheet. Giving him the proper credit for two photographs did not invite him back to reminisce. Vera saw Anouk look at the door for a brief moment when footsteps sounded in the hallway. It was Ria and Bas. Vera saw them coming from the lift.

Ria walked slightly ahead of her brother and stopped to give him space at the door. He paused to look where he was going. The room was light enough; a chair was ready where he could see the images and the person speaking. He nodded to Anouk and took his phone out of his pocket.

‘We were in the area anyway,’ Ria said to Vera. ‘And he wanted to take a look.’

Bas pointed to his screen before she continued. He had typed something for Anouk. She read it, looked at him, and typed a short reply on his phone. Meanwhile, Ria was busy taking her bag off the chair.

Vera moved slightly to the side so he could read the short description accompanying the work photograph. He leaned forward and then looked at the next photo. Ria started saying something about who was standing on the right, then stopped and went to stand next to him, not in front of him.

He typed again. This time he turned the screen towards Vera: did it say that this wasn't a full night shift?

Vera pointed to the corrected description. There it was: the wording checked with Anouk and against the old documents. Bas read it, looked back at the image, and nodded once. Then he wrote that he had never seen that man's sleeve clean, even when nothing had been done yet.

She had to laugh. Anouk asked if she could read it. Bas held the screen up to her himself. Ria looked at the sleeve. That trick used to work in her house too, she said: pretending the stain had been there since yesterday. She wrote it on her phone and held it out to her brother. He responded with a gesture and typed something back that only Ria read. She burst out laughing.

Vera let them continue looking and went to the door. A woman with a large bag was standing in the hallway, hesitating. She asked if the meeting had started yet.

‘It’s not a meeting,’ said Vera. ‘There are six photos. You can just look.’

The woman placed the bag slightly higher on her shoulder. ‘I thought it wasn't going ahead.’

Sanne came over. She explained that the original presentation had been postponed and that this was a smaller selection, with the proper arrangements. She pointed out the correction. The woman read the first lines and then looked at the photos.

‘Is that exactly the same station?’ she asked.

Anouk said yes. The woman only knew the new underpass. In the photo, she looked for the side where you parked the bikes. Anouk walked beside her past the photographs and pointed out the recognisable spot. The woman was trying to fit her own route between the walls in the photograph.

At one of Dorus’s photographs, she asked who the photographer was. Anouk pointed out his name and explained that they had worked on the series together back then. How simple the right two sentences were, Vera thought, when nobody tried to hide five boxes behind them.

The woman looked for a few minutes. Then she asked if the door to the other room was behind this. She actually had to be at the community centre for something else. Sanne pointed her down the hallway. As she turned, the bag bumped against the doorpost, right next to the poster with the corrections.

It was almost time for Vera to go. She grabbed her coat. Bas sat on the chair and looked at one of the smaller details again. Ria had put her own phone in her bag.

‘Will you come in for tea?’ Vera asked her.

‘Another time. We’re going home soon.’

Bas looked up as she put on her coat. Vera typed on her phone that she had to go to the café and showed it to him. He nodded and showed her a message on his screen: that left-hand window — you haven’t had another go, have you?

She chuckled. The skin on her hand had long since returned to normal. She wrote that she wasn't going to try again. He showed his thumb and looked at the photo again.

Outside, she walked with Anouk to the bikes for a moment. The large transport folder was now empty. The six mounted prints remained at De Werf with a clear agreement; the rest were at home. Anouk said that she had a client on Saturday whom she had known for a long time. No station photos, she said. Work for a small company. She wanted to tidy up the room for that appointment.

‘There are some boxes lying there now,’ said Vera.

‘In the right place. But I still want to be able to sit down.’

Anouk laughed and clicked her bag shut. Vera didn’t ask if she should come and help carry things. She asked if Anouk would let Bente know where the correction was. She had already done that. Otto received his message about the small presentation too, she said. He could decide for himself whether he came.

Vera cycled back to the café, where Yasmin was getting the bread ready for lunch. The chairs by the window were not in their usual place; a small group had moved them. Vera put two back and left the others standing until the woman sitting there had put on her coat. Then she asked Yasmin how much still needed to be ordered for tomorrow.