Bendoredjo. 1931 - 1934

Atelier Kurkdjian created this photo, Bendoredjo, most likely with a camera. The tones and shading feel even; maybe this picture was taken on an overcast day. The eye follows the lines of the tracks and structures, like a kind of road map. I imagine the photographer must have been standing in an elevated position when they made this picture. I wonder what was going through the photographer’s mind as they made the image? Did they want to record the achievements of the industrial age, or were they thinking about something else entirely? I always wonder about the kinds of constraints artists are working under. Here, the greyscale shades and composition are, in part, results of technology. Yet that’s also what enables them to create in the first place. Art is a conversation across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Artists try to capture an essence of something through decisions, but that essence will continue to take on new meaning as the world shifts around it.