Bezoek van de gouverneur aan de Plantage Mount Pleasant c. 1912 - 1913

This photograph, titled "Bezoek van de gouverneur aan de Plantage Mount Pleasant," is by an anonymous artist. It's like a little window into another time, capturing a moment with what looks like simple materials. There is a starkness in the monochromatic palette, making everything feel immediate and raw, like a charcoal drawing. The texture created by the photographic process has a tactile quality, almost like you could feel the rough surface of the paper and the grain of the film. I'm drawn to the composition of the image, how the figures are arranged in the landscape, the upper image is more formal, while the lower is more active and intimate. The artist is capturing a scene, not creating one, and I admire the simplicity, a directness that reminds me that art is about seeing, thinking, and feeling. It reminds me of the work of someone like Félix Vallotton with his woodcuts. Art, like life, is an ongoing conversation, full of echoes, reinventions, and unanswered questions.