Vertrekkende groep officieren uit Busan 1951 - 1953

This snapshot by David Ketel, whose dates are 1913-2008, captures a departing group of officers from Busan, with an unstated date or medium, and is now held at the Rijksmuseum. The image is small, almost intimate, which makes you lean in to try and see what's happening in this moment. There is a stark contrast between the officers in shadow on the right of the frame, and those in the light on the left. Your eye is drawn to a lighter figure in the middle of the frame, whose shirt is illuminated, but whose face is obscured. This figure creates a bridge between the darker forms of the officers and the brighter landscape. Ketel's work here reminds me a little bit of Gerhard Richter’s blurred photographs, not because they look alike, but because they both tap into the way memory isn't crystal clear, but is like a series of impressions and feelings. Art is that bridge, a way to keep the conversation going across time.