Man op een vlakte met op de achtergrond de berg Chumahlari (7315 m) 1903 - 1906

Editor: This is a photograph by D.T. Dalton titled "Man op een vlakte met op de achtergrond de berg Chumahlari (7315 m)," taken sometime between 1903 and 1906. It looks like a solitary figure amidst this vast landscape, all in subdued sepia tones. What's your interpretation of it? Curator: This photograph whispers stories, doesn't it? It's as much about the lonely human spirit as it is about the grandeur of the Himalayas. The composition throws our eyes back into space with the mountain. Notice the details and what's missing: colour. Dalton clearly used light and perspective. What do you think that tells us? Editor: It gives a stark feeling...almost timeless. Like the landscape dwarfs the person but also makes you realize their shared experience with the earth. I guess, also how far we are from reality with black and white photos as they aren't real. Curator: Precisely. And "real" is the key, perhaps an 'imperial real', through whose eyes and technologies are we viewing and interpreting this landscape. This connects it to orientalism, the Western representation of the East and questions how perceptions are mediated through photography, a nascent and increasingly accessible artform at the time. What seems at first like a landscape is therefore imbued with colonial connotations. Editor: Wow, I never thought of it that way, of orientalism in photography, how an absence is full of information. It really gives new depth to it. Curator: Yes, exactly. Isn't it fascinating how one seemingly simple photograph can be such a multi-layered conversation starter? It’s also that it captures the beginning of mountain tourism that has environmental costs as the backdrop becomes picturesque. Editor: Definitely. There’s so much more here than what initially meets the eye. Thank you.