['Diamond fields-Kimberley mine', 'Diamond fields-Tramway, Kimberley mine'] before 1880

Editor: This is a fascinating artifact: an album showcasing views of the Diamond Fields-Kimberley Mine, taken sometime before 1880. These are gelatin-silver or albumen prints… and there's something haunting about these stark, almost alien landscapes. What do you see when you look at these images? Curator: Haunting is spot on. It's like peering into the earth's open wound, isn’t it? These aren’t pretty postcards, they whisper of ambition and extraction... That period, before 1880, Kimberley was a wild, unregulated frenzy, and these photos hint at that almost feverish intensity. The texture of the print itself contributes; the slightly aged, almost trembling quality to the photographic surface is mesmerizing. I get lost in these, thinking about what it was like to stand there. What do you make of the tramway slicing through one of the views? Editor: It highlights the industrial intrusion, I guess, this imposed geometry upon a ravaged natural landscape. Did early photographers have a sense of the environmental impact they were documenting, or were they just recording "progress"? Curator: Good question. It's hard to say. Early photography often served colonial and commercial interests, you know, showcasing resources, “untamed” landscapes… But even within that framework, artists could make choices, offer subtle critiques. There's a coldness in this approach, a sense of scale that dwarfs any human presence. Were they intending that? Possibly not consciously, but it's there nonetheless. The tramline you see cuts through as though it means business: This land has only one function now. Editor: So, seeing it today, we bring our own awareness to the image. I see a complicated history – resource extraction, technological advancement, environmental cost – all in these small prints. Curator: Exactly. These photographs don’t just reflect a diamond mine; they reflect us, our history, and the ongoing dialogue between humanity and the earth. The diamond's allure hides a lot. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about.