Stoepa's op de bovenste galerijen van de nog ongerestaureerde Borobudur 1872 - 1890

Curator: This albumen print, taken between 1872 and 1890, captures a view of the stupas on the upper galleries of Borobudur, before its restoration. The photographer is Kassian Céphas. Editor: It strikes me as a document of endurance, even decay. The light is soft, yet the structures loom so massively, testament to time’s passage and human endeavor. What’s arresting is how much the material dominates everything. Curator: Indeed. The photo underscores the immense labor required to construct these structures, each stone precisely placed, a social act rendered through the photographer’s lens. What about the stupas themselves? What do they signify to you? Editor: Oh, loaded symbolism! The stupa shape echoes cosmic mountains, repositories of spiritual energy, mandalas solidified in stone. The progression to the top symbolizes a journey of enlightenment. You see figures there; do you think their size has any iconographic value? Curator: Their presence really punctuates the photograph, though! We have an image that highlights this meeting of nature and design in the labour that produced it. Look how carefully the stone is assembled. Look at the condition, prior to conservation. What stories do you suppose the stonemasons would tell about this endeavour? Editor: You’re drawing attention to a really good point, which is how it serves to show these continuities of labor, that tie ancient ideas of monumentalism through a photographic production made for the eyes of others, particularly in a time of burgeoning Orientalism. It's still quite resonant. Curator: I'm struck how this image really grounds those ideas through a specific location and time. You and I can both find resonance, albeit perhaps different angles of meaning. Editor: Yes, I am moved by the echoes of the cultural memory contained within, but I cannot help being moved as well by this photograph serving now as its own sort of historical record!