Uitgegraven versteningen in een heuvel 1903 - 1913

This small photograph, Uitgegraven versteningen in een heuvel, shows an excavation site. It makes me think about how photography is always a process of revelation, of exposing something hidden. The sepia tones and the way the light catches the sandy earth give it a tactile quality. It’s like you could reach out and feel the grit between your fingers. The conical forms jutting out of the hillside, are they ancient artifacts or natural formations? The ambiguity is part of what makes this image so compelling. Look closely at the figures scaling the slope. They seem so small against the scale of the landscape. The artist frames the scene in such a way that we're encouraged to ponder the relationship between time, labor and the earth itself. This reminds me of some of Robert Smithson's earthworks, or even some of the Bechers' photographs of industrial structures. It’s the same interest in how humans interact with, and leave their mark on, the landscape. Art helps us to ask questions, to see the world in new and unexpected ways.