Gezicht op Kislovodsk vanaf een berg c. 1850 - 1880

Editor: This is “Gezicht op Kislovodsk vanaf een berg,” a gelatin silver print photograph taken by F. Gadajew sometime between 1850 and 1880. Looking at this stereoscopic view, I’m immediately struck by how this almost seems to flatten the city, to turn it into an organised diagram. What do you see in this piece? Curator: That’s a keen observation. It’s tempting to see it simply as a landscape, but I’m more interested in exploring how photography like this reflects and shapes our understanding of urban spaces, particularly in the context of empire and social hierarchies. Kislovodsk, as part of the Russian empire, had specific social and political underpinnings reflected here. What social functions do you think urban planning like that serve? Editor: Well, the elevated viewpoint definitely puts the viewer in a position of power, right? Like we're surveying the land. I guess planning and organizing a city like that is an act of control, an imposing of order. Curator: Exactly! This ordered perspective, imposed through the photographic lens, participates in constructing a specific narrative. Notice how nature is pushed to the background, literally, but it is used as a decorative ornament to the city itself. It speaks volumes about humanity's perceived role. But what narrative is being told, and for whose consumption? Editor: It almost feels like this is designed to impress outsiders, to project an image of civilization and progress. Is there maybe also a tension present here in representing an evolving urban landscape? Curator: Absolutely! The very act of capturing it reveals anxieties about control and identity. It freezes a moment, it creates a single viewpoint that is considered the best, the desired, hiding other truths that might be unseemly or inconvenient to acknowledge. Editor: Wow, I didn't think I'd find so many layers in one photo! Curator: Photography can reveal unexpected sociocultural truths, if you’re prepared to challenge what's in front of you.