Elephanta from Water Cave, Coombe Martin Bay, Watermouth 1870s

Editor: This is "Elephanta from Water Cave, Coombe Martin Bay, Watermouth," a gelatin silver print by Francis Frith from the 1870s, currently residing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It shows the inside of a cave, where two men are taking a break. It has a contemplative, almost haunting feel. What strikes you when you look at it? Curator: Well, my darling, what grips me is the dance between light and shadow – Frith teases it out of the depths of that cave, doesn't he? The architectural form becomes almost secondary to the humanity of that tiny vignette; those fellows perched within, dwarfed and framed by centuries of something or other… maybe simply the relentless, blind artistry of erosion. Have you ever felt so small, contemplating vastness? Editor: Absolutely! I guess I was so focused on the visual narrative, I didn’t fully appreciate the contrast between human presence and the scale of nature and history bearing down. The cavern almost swallows them whole. Curator: Precisely. And think of Frith lugging his equipment into this dimly lit space. A photographer becomes explorer, a time-traveler capturing an immutable moment… which becomes anything but immutable. Funny, isn't it? It’s as if the camera itself tries to bore into the mystery; do you think that in photographing it, he could almost feel a piece of it coming back with him, into the world? Editor: It does give the picture an oddly intense quality, as though more is at stake than just documenting the cave. This makes me consider my own place within it all… Curator: Yes, let that thought burrow in a while! Perhaps that is all art, really—a carefully worded invitation into the depths. Thank you for seeing the cave, and your small place in it!