Aan dek 1940 - 1943

This tiny, black and white photograph of the deck of a ship has no date and no known author, yet it speaks volumes. I imagine the artist on that deck, feeling the sway of the boat, the cold spray of the ocean on their face, and trying to capture it all in a single frame. It’s a lonely scene; the long wooden boards of the deck meet the gray, choppy sea under a dull sky. You can almost feel the quiet, the isolation, the feeling of being a tiny speck on the vast ocean. The rigging creates bold diagonal lines into the scene and gives a sense of movement and direction. It reminds me of some of Hiroshi Sugimoto's expansive seascapes, but more modest, and perhaps that's its strength. It’s a humble offering, a small slice of life at sea, preserved in silver and light. It’s like a visual haiku, capturing a moment with minimal means, leaving space for us to fill in the rest. Anonymous, perhaps, but certainly not without a voice.