Beelden van Boeddha en twee koningszonen in de Tempel Mendoet ten zuiden van Magelang, Nederlands-Indië c. 1895 - 1915

This photograph by Otto Hisgen captures the Buddha and two royal sons in the Mendut Temple. The photograph is black and white which gives it a ghostly quality. I'm really drawn to the weight of those figures. They’re monumental, solid but with a beautiful vulnerability. I imagine Hisgen setting up his equipment in the dim light, trying to capture not just the image, but the feeling of the place. I can almost hear the silence of the temple. It’s fascinating how the surface of the figures, the stone, carries both light and shadow, history and mystery. There's a conversation happening between the artist and the subject. Photographers, like painters, work in conversation with each other. They pick up on ideas, push them, and respond across generations. Each artist leaves a trace, an echo in the work that follows. And like any great work of art, this photograph embraces ambiguity, inviting us to bring our own questions and interpretations.