Zuid-Afrikaanse mensen bewerken een land, vermoedelijk op de boerderij van Willem van den Berg in Transvaal, Zuid-Afrika 1967 - 1971

This photograph of people working on Willem van den Berg's farm in Transvaal, South Africa, was taken by Willem Jacob van den Berg, though it is difficult to say exactly when. The shades of gray, the range of tones, are doing so much work, right? Notice how the eye is led into the space of the farm by the figures and the lines of the field, a bit like paint strokes on a canvas. The surface is doing the work of describing an entire world of labour and the South African landscape. The way light and shadow are captured here, it’s more than just recording an image. The texture of the earth, the angle of the tools – they all speak to the physicality of the work. It reminds me of some of the early modernist photography, where the everyday is elevated through close observation. It’s a conversation about seeing, about labor, and about the complex layers of history embedded in the land.