Uitzicht op een tuin, vermoedelijk van wijngaard Lanzerac in Stellenbosch, Zuid-Afrika 1968

This photograph, possibly from the Lanzerac vineyard in Stellenbosch, South Africa, by Willem Jacob van den Berg, captures a garden scene. What strikes me most is the photograph within a photograph, the way the image is presented within its album page, those neat corners holding it in place. The surface texture of the photo itself seems smooth, but the image is grainy. It’s like memory itself, isn’t it? A bit fuzzy around the edges. Look at the central tree, the play of light and shadow dancing across its leaves. The mountains in the background are softened by the distance, almost like a dream. The colour palette, although muted, evokes a sense of warmth and nostalgia. You can almost feel the sun on your skin and smell the earth. I think of Gerhard Richter's blurred photographs, the way he captures a sense of fleeting moments and the elusiveness of memory. There’s a conversation happening here, across time and continents, about how we see and remember the world.