Achteraanzicht van de triomfboog te Palmyra c. 1875 - 1900

Curator: This is an albumen print of the Arch of Palmyra, likely created by Maison Bonfils sometime between 1875 and 1900. The image is currently held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Well, immediately I feel the weight of history looking at it. It's not just ruins; it's the story etched in stone, a beautiful skeleton reaching for a sky it no longer remembers. Haunting, wouldn’t you say? Curator: Haunting is a great word for it. Palmyra, you see, was an incredibly important city on the Silk Road, connecting East and West. Images like these, taken by firms like Bonfils, became hugely popular, satisfying a European interest in antiquity and faraway lands. There’s a potent relationship between colonialism, photography and archeology to unpack here. Editor: Exactly! There’s almost something deeply romantic about these ruins captured in this almost faded, ethereal light. I picture the intrepid photographers, setting up their cumbersome equipment...what did they feel, documenting such magnificence crumbling? Did they know it would still be standing, albeit more wounded, over a hundred years later? Curator: That's the question, isn’t it? And consider the local perspective – the people whose present was being reframed by this 'discovery' and documentation of their past. Photography, as we see in this piece, really participates in framing that cultural narrative. Editor: It's a powerful reminder that even beauty carries layers of complexities and human interference. We view it now and find the composition pleasing, the subject evocative. The arch, though fractured, frames stories and power dynamics. It prompts you to consider its history. Curator: I think that is very well put. The artistry lies in its capacity to carry this heavy narrative into a deceptively still moment. Editor: Well, on that note, I'm going to leave feeling slightly more haunted than when I came in! Thanks for the tour through time, literally and figuratively!