Gezicht op Jeruzalem, Israël before 1899

Editor: Here we have a gelatin-silver print from before 1899, titled "View of Jerusalem, Israel". It seems to come from an album, or a book of photographs. I find the detail in the photograph quite remarkable, almost hyperrealistic for the period. What strikes you most about this particular print? Curator: I'm drawn to how the materiality of this image implicates the history of its production. Gelatin-silver prints became the dominant photographic process by this time, suggesting an industrialization of image-making, even in depicting a place as historically resonant as Jerusalem. The means by which this view was captured and disseminated—photography, printing, album creation— speak to a broader project of documenting and consuming the 'Orient'. Do you think that the use of photography flattens the social realities within Jerusalem, or that its means of production affects your reading? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn't considered the industrial aspects, and it raises the question of whose Jerusalem is being depicted, and for what purpose. Thinking about it as a commodity changes the feel of the picture for me. Curator: Exactly. Consider the labor involved: from the photographer, to the darkroom technicians, to the publishers, and eventually the consumer. What social narratives were they aiming to convey with this image and its specific production? This contrasts significantly with, say, a hand-painted depiction. The photograph carries a presumed indexicality – a sense of 'truth' – that can obscure the underlying political economy at play. Does thinking about those considerations change how you view the landscape depicted? Editor: Definitely. Thinking about who made it and how it was circulated gives a new layer of complexity. I originally saw it just as a straightforward landscape, but now I see it as a product of complex socio-economic factors. Thank you! Curator: And I am interested to continue pondering these early photographers. What drove them? How aware were they of their complicity in shaping narratives about foreign lands? A very fruitful point of consideration.