Gezicht op het postkantoor en bankgebouw te Pretoria 1896

This image shows the Post Office and National Bank in Pretoria, captured by James F. Goch in a photograph of modest size. The photographic process itself is crucial here. It's a technology born of the industrial age, and although Goch is an individual artist, he's relying on complex chemical and mechanical processes. The image, fixed on paper, becomes a document, a way of recording and disseminating information about this colonial building. Consider the building itself. It's a solid, imposing structure, built to last with materials extracted from the earth and crafted by laborers. The architecture speaks of power and permanence, yet here it's rendered ephemeral by the photographic process. Looking closely, we can appreciate how the image captures a moment in time, while also revealing the layers of labor, materials, and technologies that underpin both the photograph and the building it depicts. It reminds us that every image, every object, carries within it a whole world of making.