Tombe van een sjeik in Edom, Palestina 1929

This landscape, Tomb of a Sheik in Edom, Palestina, was made by Richard St. Barbe Baker, we don't know when, but presumably when he was in that part of the world. It's a photograph in light brown hues, capturing a tomb amidst the vast terrain of Edom. What strikes me is the starkness and the subtle textures, like the land itself. The sepia tones, it's hard to know exactly how the picture was produced, but I can imagine St. Barbe Baker carefully developing the photograph to evoke the desolation and timelessness of the landscape. The tomb, a simple white structure, almost dissolves into the background. It makes me think of Agnes Martin's work, where the grid offers a similar sense of peace and reflection. There is a quietness to it, a meditative quality that invites contemplation on mortality and the marks we leave behind. In that sense, this picture is doing similar work to painting, asking us to think about the relationship between time, place, and memory.