S.O. Goenoengsari. Kookpannen / Koeltroggen. 30-4-27. 1927

This photograph of S.O. Goenoengsari, taken on April 30th, 1927, invites us into an anonymous industrial space, rendered in shades of gray and white. The photograph is all about its lines, the architecture of industry, like a blueprint come to life. The composition is a dance of verticals and horizontals, of supports and tanks, all softened by light flooding in from above. Note how the texture in the foreground almost grounds the whole scene, a rough counterpoint to the smooth metal structures looming above. There's a little figure standing to the right, dwarfed by the scale of the factory, a reminder of the human element in this industrial landscape. This reminds me of Bernd and Hilla Becher, with their photos of industrial buildings, but this photograph is more human, less austere. It’s a space ripe with ambiguity, of work and light, of grand scale and human insignificance.