Tinmijn 1900 - 1922

This stereograph, called ‘Tinmijn,’ captures a scene from a tin mine. The photographer was Robert Julius Boers. I can imagine him setting up his camera, thinking about the composition. What's he trying to say? Does it have to do with labor, or about natural resources? In both images, there are workers pushing wheelbarrows in a landscape that has been stripped. It feels very stark. The grainy texture almost obscures the details, yet the composition is so clear. It's fascinating how the paired images give a sense of depth, pulling you into that moment in time. Like a landscape painting, there's a clear foreground and a middle ground, the eye is led upwards, towards an empty horizon. I love how photography can flatten things out, and how the artist might then attempt to recapture a certain depth of vision. It reminds me that artists are constantly trying to find new ways of seeing.