Pilaren met hiëroglyfen, Egypte c. 1900 - 1910

This photograph by Mr. L. de Bruyn captures columns with hieroglyphs in Egypt, though the exact date remains a mystery. Imagine the scene as the photographer framed it: the dust, the heat, the weight of those massive stone pillars, each one etched with ancient symbols. I wonder what De Bruyn felt standing there, gazing at these silent storytellers? Was he thinking about the hands that carved them, the civilization they represented, or maybe just the play of light on the stone? Those hieroglyphs – they’re not just decoration, right? Each one is a little picture, a word, a story waiting to be deciphered. The gray tones of the photograph throw these ancient forms into relief, each column almost like a brushstroke on the landscape. It reminds me that art is really about conversation, across time, across cultures. We’re all just borrowing, stealing, and transforming what came before us. And maybe, just maybe, leaving our own little marks for someone else to ponder in the future.