Exterieur van een administrateurswoning van suikerfabriek Goedo te Djombang op Java c. 1925 - 1930

Here we have a photograph by Isken of a sugar factory administrator's house in Djombang, Java, and immediately I want to walk around it. There's a softness to the image, a sort of hazy, dreamlike quality created by the monochrome palette. It makes you feel like you're looking at a memory. This isn’t about sharp lines or photographic perfection. It’s about atmosphere. The whole scene is slightly obscured by the framing of tree branches, which act like a curtain, and immediately create a sense of depth. They remind me of how Corot would compose his landscapes, creating receding layers of space. I'm drawn to the archway of greenery over the entrance. It softens the building's architecture, creating an almost fairytale-like feel. It suggests a space where the human and natural worlds intertwine, where reality blurs. This is a recurring theme in photography, that art can be a way of seeing, but also a way of dreaming. It reminds me a little of Frederick Sommer, an artist who similarly embraced the beauty of ambiguity.