Lower Yosemite Falls, Yosemite, CA, October 13, 2011 2011

Binh Danh made this photograph, Lower Yosemite Falls, in 2011. It’s not a painting but it feels like one, all those silvery greys and blacks, as if the whole image has been dipped in ink. There's something almost ghostly about the image, a sense of time slowed right down. The waterfall itself is like a brushstroke, a long, vertical mark that cuts through the solid rock. The surface of the photograph has this incredible texture, like old paper or skin. If you look closely, you can see the way the light catches on the rocks, how the shadows play across the surface. It reminds me of the way Gerhard Richter blurs his paintings, creating a similar sense of distance and longing. It’s not just a picture of a place; it's about memory, loss, and the passage of time. Like all good art, it leaves you with more questions than answers.