Mannen, vrouwen en kinderen poserend voor een vergaderhuis in Minangkabou op Sumatra c. 1900 - 1920

This photograph of people posing in front of a community house in Minangkabou, Sumatra, was taken by Christiaan Benjamin Nieuwenhuis. Look at the variations in tone, the way the light bounces off the leaves and thatched roof. It's all a kind of alchemy. It is almost like Nieuwenhuis is painting with light, layering it to create depth and texture. The surface of the photograph is smooth, but the image itself has a tactile quality. You can almost feel the roughness of the wooden walls of the house, the dampness of the earth. The detail in the patterns carved into the wood is just incredible. It shows the artist's care and precision. Nieuwenhuis's work reminds me of Eugène Atget, who documented the streets of Paris. Both artists captured a sense of place and time that feels both familiar and distant. Art is like a conversation across time. There’s always more to discover, more to interpret.