Bendoredjo. 1931 - 1934

Atelier Kurkdjian made this photograph called Bendoredjo. The photograph is a study in monochrome; it's full of tonal shifts that create depth and texture. The composition is built upon the buildings that structure the foreground and the factory behind. Look at the chimney that rises amidst the factory; it has a painterly quality, like a deliberate brushstroke against the sky. The photograph has a tactile quality, from the way the light catches the rooftops to the shadows that define the landscape. I'm drawn to the railway lines that curve through the scene. They remind me of Cy Twombly's scrawled lines, each one a record of movement and time. They could be read as a metaphor for progress. Photography, like painting, is about how we see and interpret the world. It's a conversation across time, about ideas, and about the possibilities of art.