Waterverloop in Bandung 1900 - 1935

Neville Keasberry made this stereo photograph, ‘Waterverloop in Bandung,’ using a camera, somewhere, at some point. Look at how the light plays in the water, it’s almost as if the water is made of pure light itself. I love how a camera captures light in different ways to how we would paint it – that’s art for you, eh? What really grabs me about this photo are the roots of the trees, so organic and messy against the square lines of the canal. They seem to fight against this artificial construction in all their tangled glory. It’s a beautiful and subtle contrast. The black and white adds to the feeling of another time, a moment captured. I am reminded of some of Frederick Sommer's black and white photography, but of course with a completely different subject. Photographs like this make me think about how art is really a never-ending conversation between artists and images across time. We all borrow, steal, and re-imagine.