Gezicht op de Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal te Amsterdam c. 1855 - 1884

This photograph of the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam was taken by Andreas Theodorus Rooswinkel. The image is fixed in tones of sepia, that typical chemical process through which light becomes a recorded impression, a technology that democratized image-making like never before. Consider the physical work involved in the production of this image, and the wider social context to which it speaks. A photographer captures the light in a portable darkroom, with glass plates being prepared, exposed, developed, and fixed on site, by hand, while horses and carts are moving coal or goods along the canal. The material reality of photographic production – its labor, its mobility, its chemical properties, and its reproducibility – speak to an ever-changing world, where technologies of making continue to reshape our social lives. This challenges the separation between the fine arts and other forms of creative practice.