Gezicht op de Tempels van Isis op het eiland Philae c. 1870 - 1898

Editor: We're looking at "View of the Temples of Isis on the Island of Philae," a photograph, likely an albumen print, created by Maison Bonfils sometime between 1870 and 1898. It's just...breathtaking. A bit faded, which adds to the feeling of antiquity, but you can still sense the scale and grandeur of these temples. What strikes you most about this image? Curator: The quiet, Editor. It's there, isn't it? Not silence, exactly. More a feeling of things witnessed, of secrets whispered through centuries. The very texture of the albumen print enhances it— a soft blurring, as if the desert itself has breathed upon the scene, mellowing it, giving it depth. Does it affect your imagination that this was not a single instant in time, captured in a flash, but a more fluid encounter with light? Editor: Definitely! Knowing it was a longer exposure gives it that ghostly quality. I can almost hear the echoes of the past. I am wondering about its modern context since it’s on display today at the Rijksmuseum… Curator: Exactly! What once documented reality now evokes dreams. Today, gazing at this, it's like holding a piece of eternity in your hands, or glimpsing an illusion shimmering on the Nile’s surface. That’s photography. What kind of illusion is created for you? Editor: A poignant one, a dialogue between time and the impermanence of what seemed grand. The ruin in the now speaks more of mortality, really, than of divine right, like some kind of silent theatre… Curator: And just so, you put it perfectly! The photo’s faded glory evokes something deeper than simple preservation. This ruin feels deeply connected to those who once traversed these halls, now lost like figures in some phantasmagoria… We wander amidst the ruins with our very own ghosts… a sobering sentiment. Editor: It’s been incredibly helpful to consider how this photograph, seemingly a record of the past, can feel so relevant today. The feeling of temporal depth, well, sticks with you! Curator: Indeed. The quiet murmurings and the poignant impermanence; these temples and this photograph are ever a place of becoming for something, somewhere else... a journey to be undertaken for all!