Interior of the Temporary House in Mäaboberg 1905

Jacob Evert Wesenhagen made this photograph of the interior of the Temporary House in Mäaboberg at some point in his lifetime. It’s interesting to see the textures here, how they’re all flattened out and made equal by the photographic process. I think of photography in terms of time, and how the passing of time changes an image. There’s something ghostly about the light in this image, that suspended lamp looks like its floating, it feels like time has stopped still. The stillness is broken, though, by the shadows that hint at movement, a domestic scene that has been abruptly interrupted, like a stage set awaiting a troupe of actors. I’m reminded of the interiors of Vilhelm Hammershøi, the way he uses light and shadow to create a mood of quiet contemplation. Both artists invite us to linger in the space between seeing and feeling, to embrace the ambiguity that makes art so endlessly fascinating.