Drie Pakezels beladen met hout before 1893

Editor: This is "Drie Pakezels beladen met hout," or "Three Pack Donkeys Laden with Wood," an albumen print made before 1893 by an anonymous photographer. It’s part of a larger photograph album. What immediately strikes me is its documentary feel. What stories do you think it could tell us about the period? Curator: Documentary, yes, but I wonder if there isn't a touch of the performative here, too. Think about it: photographs were objects to be held, shared, displayed… and, like stories, they always carried more than just information. This particular image of burdened donkeys calls to mind ancient trade routes. It hints at the labor underpinning development, doesn't it? And it invites us to consider the relationship between humans, animals, and resources in a world rapidly industrializing. Are we witnesses or are we shaping this view? Does this scene evoke the exotic, or is it more work-a-day? Editor: I didn’t think about the trade routes; my focus went straight to the industrial context and how little seems to have changed about manual labor. Do you feel a certain sympathy in this photograph? Curator: Sympathy, maybe a dash of stoicism? I do find a beauty in the starkness. I’m also captivated by the way it almost seems to exist outside of time. Could it be yesterday, or a hundred years ago? The enduring image asks, what burdens do we still carry? Editor: That is definitely something to think about! Curator: And those are the kinds of questions, aren't they, that make art endlessly engaging?