Rots met bas-reliëfs en ingangen naar grafkelders te Naks-i-Rustam, Perzië Possibly 1925

This is a photograph of Naks-i-Rustam in Persia by A.G.A. van Eelde, and right away, it feels like looking at a drawing. I mean, look at the way the light plays across the rock face, it’s almost like he’s sketching with shadows, mapping out the textures and depths of the stone. You can almost feel the grit and weight of it. The bas-reliefs, with their figures caught in timeless poses, emerge from the rock as these bold marks which cut through the surface. It’s the kind of image that makes you think about what it means to make marks, to leave a trace. It is like those moments when you trace out the patterns of constellations at night, trying to make sense of the infinite. Maybe this is like Agnes Martin, thinking about the line as a kind of meditative pathway. It's less about what's depicted and more about the process of seeing and feeling.