Brug aan de Gajoweg 1903 - 1913

This image shows a group of people on a bridge along the Gajoweg and was made using photographic materials. It is, perhaps, not a 'painting', but it still speaks to process and, more importantly, to human relationships to landscape. Look how the photograph has aged. Time’s brush has softened the edges, creating a sepia dreamscape. I wonder what it was like to be the photographer, finding the right angle, waiting for the sun. The subjects line the bridge, almost like a stage. What were their thoughts? Their expectations? I can see them all standing together, their faces blurred just enough to become anyone, everyone, timeless witnesses. We are all on a bridge of some kind, aren’t we? Crossing from one state to another, from the known to the unknown. Just as painters construct a world on canvas, so too did the photographer of this scene. The picture asks us to reflect on our own crossings. A reminder that every mark we leave is part of a bigger conversation, a dialogue across time.