Noordoostzijde van de Sint-Gertrudiskerk te Oirle 1904

This photograph of the Sint-Gertrudiskerk in Oirle was created by the agency Monumentenzorg, though we don't know exactly when. What's striking about this image is how it memorializes the efforts of so many unseen hands. Think of the brickmakers, who would have formed and fired the clay for the church, or the masons who stacked those bricks, course by course, into soaring walls. The roofers, too, laying tile after tile to shield the congregation from the elements. Each of these acts would have been done by hand, with simple tools, and a great deal of physical labor. Consider too the social context: Religious structures like this one demanded enormous investment from the community. They speak to shared belief, but also to the hierarchies inherent in any society. This photograph stands as a quiet testament to the relationship between materials, making, and cultural meaning, and it challenges our modern separation of design, craft, and art.