Twee boeren bewerken een stuk land met twee runderen voor een ploeg before 1895

This photograph, by Paul Bourgeois, shows two farmers tilling a field with two cattle pulling a plough. It’s a simple image, but consider the amount of labor involved in its making: from the physical effort of the farmers and their animals, to the more hidden labor of manufacturing photographic paper, and producing the chemicals used to develop it. Bourgeois has preserved a moment in time, but also an evocation of work. The gelatin silver print process, used here, relies on the light sensitivity of silver halides in gelatin, which is coated on a paper or glass support. When exposed to light, a latent image forms, which is then developed chemically to produce a visible image. This process was becoming increasingly widespread at the time this photograph was taken, thanks to industrial manufacturing methods, connecting the pastoral scene with the wider forces of labor, production, and consumption. The high degree of reproducibility inherent in photography democratized image-making. Paying attention to these materials and processes is essential in understanding the full social and cultural meaning of a photograph like this, and questioning traditional hierarchies between art and craft.