Gezicht op de entree van de Moti Masjid in Delhi 1863 - 1866

Editor: This is "Gezicht op de entree van de Moti Masjid in Delhi," a photograph taken by Samuel Bourne between 1863 and 1866. It’s an albumen print. It’s gorgeous, but almost dreamlike because of the soft focus and muted tones. What draws your eye in this image? Curator: It’s the stillness, isn’t it? Bourne captured something profoundly serene in the midst of, I imagine, a bustling city. You see the incredible detail, the arches leading into shadows that hint at more arches, more space. Bourne’s work often makes me consider what it meant to 'capture' a place like Delhi at a time when photography itself was new to many. Does it document, interpret, or perhaps even subtly transform a space, for both those seeing it for the first time in the West, or preserving it for those back home? Editor: That’s a good point. The act of photographing inherently changes things. I also wonder about his audience – what would they have made of this? Curator: Precisely! Perhaps some viewed it with a romantic gaze, seeing the ‘exotic’ East, while others marveled at the architectural accomplishment and order captured with this technology. Did they imagine themselves walking through those archways? Were they impressed? Repulsed? Bourne doesn’t offer answers, but gently holds space for them. What do you make of the almost ghost-like lack of human presence? Editor: It adds to that feeling of stillness, definitely. But maybe it’s also Bourne showing the architecture as the main subject? Like, it exists beyond any specific time or individual. Curator: It very much seems he sought an essential, eternal quality within the structure itself. Almost a soul of stone and light. Editor: It gives me a lot to think about when I look at the image now, thanks! Curator: Gladly. It does the same for me, and perhaps that's photography's ultimate enchantment – an ever-changing dialogue across time and perception.