Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo

Giuseppe Incorpora made this photograph of the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo sometime in the late 19th century. It’s a straightforward image, really, just documenting the architecture, but consider the labor that went into the building itself, stone by stone, and brick by brick, centuries before the photo was taken. The roughhewn blocks and decorative stonework represent skilled traditions of masonry, speaking to the politics of its time. As one looks at this picture, imagine the work: quarrying the stone, transporting it, cutting it to shape, lifting it into place. And the roof tiles, each individually molded and fired. Photography, then, becomes a way of registering the accumulated effort of previous generations. The Palazzo is not just an aesthetic statement. It is a monument to human labor.