Aanleg spoorweg bij Kabelstation Zuid 1905 - 1910

This small photograph shows the construction of a railway near the Kabelstation Zuid, and was made by Jacob Evert Wesenhagen. It's all about the process of building, of laying down tracks that will carry us somewhere new. The texture here is really interesting; the way the light catches on the stacked wooden beams in the foreground, creating these deep shadows, almost like a landscape in themselves. It's funny how the eye is drawn to the details: the rough edges of the wood, the way the tracks disappear into the distance. There is a kind of rawness to the image. The buildings sit nestled into the landscape, and the trees dominate the horizon line, creating a really interesting contrast between the natural and the manmade. There's something about this image that reminds me of Bernd and Hilla Becher, that same documentary impulse, but with a real sense of place. Art isn't about answers, it's about questions and about opening up possibilities.