Fountains Abbey. The Chapel of the Nine Alters, Exterior 1850s

Curator: Joseph Cundall’s gelatin silver print, taken in the 1850s, titled “Fountains Abbey: The Chapel of the Nine Alters, Exterior”, presents us with the skeletal remains of a medieval architectural site. Editor: The image is striking! It has this somber and nostalgic mood. What grabs me the most is how this structure seems to blend into the surrounding landscape, like it’s returning to nature. What's your interpretation of the piece? Curator: It’s a study of materiality in decline, of the transformation from sacred space to raw material. Consider the labor invested initially to construct this grand structure. And now? Nature reclaims the worked stone. Editor: I hadn’t considered it that way. You’re making me think about the economic and social forces required to build it initially, then how those systems shift to allow for its decay. Does the photographic process play into that narrative for you? Curator: Absolutely. The very process of capturing this image involved material and chemical transformation. The silver compounds reacting to light, a different kind of alchemy mimicking the abbey’s own deterioration. Cundall is not just showing us ruins. Editor: Right, he’s revealing a constant process of change. It's less about the aesthetic and more about what’s going on underneath. The slow grinding of time and its effects on both human creation and natural materials. It’s humbling. Curator: Precisely. Think of how our contemporary consumer culture treats materials. It creates waste on one end to manufacture beauty on the other. In that way, this ruin makes visible a consequence of labor and materiality. It’s cyclical in its statement. Editor: Thanks! That material perspective makes it more than just a pretty picture of old ruins. Curator: Agreed! It brings forward a more compelling perspective when we look beyond aesthetics.