Klein meisje voor plantenkassen in de tuin van landgoed Pauw 1913

Geldolph Adriaan Kessler made this photograph of a little girl in front of greenhouses at Estate Pauw with silver gelatin, creating a world of soft greys and subtle contrasts. There's a real intimacy to the image, a personal touch, which resonates with my own approach to art making; a quiet, reflective process, with a hint of spontaneity. The texture of the photograph, the way the light falls on the girl's dress, it's a very particular moment frozen in time. Look at the way the out of focus foreground obscures the girl, and how this lends a sense of depth to the image, drawing you into the scene. It's like a veil, a layer of memory, separating us from that instant. Kessler's work reminds me a little of Eugène Atget’s photographs of Paris, that same sense of documenting a world on the cusp of change, capturing the everyday with such grace. Ultimately, both artists remind us that art is an ongoing conversation, a process of exchange and reinterpretation across generations.