A view of Wei-Hai-Wei harbour, Liukung Island and its town, and the vessels in harbour Possibly 1895

Curator: So, here we have what’s titled “A view of Wei-Hai-Wei harbour, Liukung Island and its town, and the vessels in harbour.” It’s marked as possibly dating back to 1895, part of the Ordnance Survey Office collection. What's your immediate take on this image? Editor: Oh, immediately? Haunting. There's something deeply melancholic about it. It’s a photograph but it feels like an echo, a ghost of a place. All those ships...they give off a sense of expectancy, and of tension just below the surface. Curator: Interesting. It does have that atmospheric quality. Look at how the composition divides the land, sea, and sky, each seemingly holding its breath. The greyscale enhances this feeling, almost like a faded memory. Editor: Exactly! And the 'almost there' feeling from those barely discernible details of Liukung Island against the water, creates an incredible sense of place. Curator: Place is crucial here. Wei-Hai-Wei was, at this time, caught in the crosshairs of geopolitical interests. The image's detached, almost clinical perspective hints at observation and strategic surveying, not romantic portrayal. Editor: That makes perfect sense, seeing as the work is coming from the Ordnance Survey Office. But even with its somewhat documentary objective, I see it mirroring that colonial gaze—a capture, if you will, of land and potential. I see these elements mixing as they create a feeling of almost unbearable suspense. What’s about to happen here? Curator: Yes! Orientalism seeps in through the visual vocabulary; observe that play between clarity and obscurity. The foreground is reasonably detailed while the background dissolves, making it more symbolic and less concrete, like a painterly gesture to emphasize a deeper story, in my eyes, the human endeavor. Editor: You know, even though this harbor landscape whispers secrets of colonial ambition, it’s hard to ignore how effectively the image conveys quiet before the storm, perhaps an opportunity for reflection. So that as a person engages it now, maybe some healing? A hope for different relations going forward. Curator: Beautifully put! This quiet harbors more than meets the eye; it encapsulates both history and the haunting allure of an artistically charged place.