Gezicht op het Senegalese paviljoen en het panorama van de Wereldtentoonstelling van 1905 in Luik 1905

This photograph captures a view of the Senegalese pavilion at the World Exhibition in Liège in 1905, and it’s made by an anonymous artist. The image shows a black and white landscape with structures that look a little like a dreamscape. The towers that stand tall in the landscape are striped. The composition is complex. I wonder about the anonymous artist here, who may have been imagining the Senegalese village. As painters, we often find ourselves translating the world through our inner vision. The texture of the print makes me think about the conversations between artists across time. Each work is a dialogue, each stroke or capture an echo. Just like in painting, the artist has translated a subject, making a statement about reality that is an artwork in and of itself. The act of making art is about uncertainty and endless possibilities.