Bivak te Krueng Seumpo 1903 - 1913

This photograph, Bivak te Krueng Seumpo, was made sometime in the past, by an anonymous maker, and the sepia tone gives it a nostalgic feel. I’m struck by the way the monochrome palette simplifies everything. The eye travels across the surface, taking in all of the careful details of the buildings and landscape. The high viewpoint is striking, and maybe reveals a subtle tension, as though the photographer is ‘keeping watch’ from a safe distance. Look at the way the shapes repeat, the triangular roofs, the rectangular gardens, the circular ornaments. The artist has framed a particular view, but what can we learn from this? It’s tempting to see it as something like a scientific record, yet even so, it also evokes a particular emotional response. There is an enigmatic quality to this image, that reminds me of Bernd and Hilla Becher’s black and white photographs of industrial buildings, but here, nature is never far away. It seems the artist wants us to remember a place and a time, but leaves the meaning open to interpretation.