Beeld van leeuw en man van een afstand, te Babylon, Hillah Possibly 1925

This is A.G.A. van Eelde's photo of a sculpture in Babylon. It’s a lion, made of dark stone and seen from a distance. I'm drawn to how the photograph renders the textures of the crumbling terrain. The lion sits atop a small hill, accessed by a narrow ramp, almost like a stage set. The photograph captures something about the weight of history, and how monuments become integrated into the landscape, softened and worn by time. There’s a real material presence to this image, it feels heavy like sculpture. The whole thing feels so staged, so fake! Which is maybe just the most real thing about it? Like looking at a film set long after the film crew has packed up and left. Like the work of Thomas Demand, whose photos of re-created spaces look more real than reality. It's this ambiguity that keeps us looking, and keeps the conversation going.