Tibetaanse nonnen van het Taktshang klooster in Bhutan 1904

This photograph, taken in 1904 by D.T. Dalton, captures a group of Tibetan nuns from the Taktshang monastery in Bhutan. The sepia tones lend a soft, dreamlike quality, almost as if the image is emerging from a distant memory. Look at the texture of the nuns’ robes, the way the fabric gathers and folds. Notice how the light catches the individual strands of hair that surround their faces like halos. The graininess of the photograph adds to the sense of time passing, like layers of dust settling on a forgotten artifact. The backdrop of stacked hay echoes the shapes of the nuns' hairstyles, creating a rhythm of forms that binds the composition together. It reminds me of Agnes Martin’s grids, the way simple repetitions can create a sense of calm and order. There's an exchange here, a kind of visual echo, between the human and the natural world. It invites us to consider the many ways of seeing and being, and to find beauty in the unexpected.