Politionele acties c. 1947 - 1949

This image, Politionele acties, was made by the Associated Press with photography. It is small, almost like a found snapshot, but the image is a study in light and dark, a dance of contrasts. There's a beautiful tension in the composition, with the soldiers in the foreground seemingly detached from the chaos erupting behind them. The surface has this kind of grainy texture, like the visual equivalent of static. It's as if the image itself is struggling to hold onto this moment, this scene of conflict. Look at the way the smoke billows, almost like a grotesque flower blooming in the background, while in the foreground you have the hard lines of the soldiers, their bodies taut with tension. This photograph reminds me of some of Goya's Disasters of War. Both artists share an interest in the ways in which art can give form to the formless, revealing the dark underbelly of human experience.