Gezicht op de stadsmuren van Ahmedabad before 1866

Editor: So, this is "Gezicht op de stadsmuren van Ahmedabad" – View of the City Walls of Ahmedabad – a photograph by Thomas Biggs, probably taken before 1866. It's an albumen print…and it's striking, really. Almost dreamlike in its muted tones. What captures your attention? Curator: Dreamlike is right. The sepia tones evoke a hazy nostalgia, like a memory half-forgotten. But beyond the aesthetic, for me, it’s about that wall, isn’t it? A barrier, a boundary. Editor: Absolutely! There is something a little unsettling with the walls and trees pressing in... Curator: Right. Walls keep things out, sure, but they also hold things in. This image was created at a very interesting time. Can’t help but wonder, what's on the other side of that wall? What did Biggs leave *out* of the frame? Editor: I didn’t consider it that way. It really highlights the sort of colonial gaze of the time, doesn’t it? Is it fair to say he may be framing what he, and his contemporaries, wanted to see? Curator: Precisely. It invites a consideration of power, privilege, the act of seeing as an act of possession. Editor: That makes perfect sense. Thank you. I’ll certainly look at these types of images differently from now on! Curator: My pleasure! Always remember: great art makes you question not just what you see, but *how* you see.