Gezicht op de Hervormde Kerk te Rottum 1890 - 1910

This photograph of the Reformed Church in Rottum was created by an anonymous photographer for Monumentenzorg, the Dutch heritage agency. It's a modest image, really, not so much about artistic expression as record-keeping. But let’s consider the layers of labor embedded in this image. First, the obvious: the photographer’s effort, and the darkroom work required to make the print. But before that, there was the labor of building the church itself: quarrying the stone, firing the bricks, felling and sawing the timber. All of that hard, physical work is implicated in this image. We might also consider the social dimension of this building. The Reformed Church would have been at the very center of the community here, shaping social relationships and even the experience of time. It's a testament to the social role of craft and design. So, even in a seemingly straightforward image like this, we can find rich layers of history, labor, and meaning.