Sfinx van Gizeh, gezien vanuit de lucht c. 1930 - 1940

This is an aerial photograph of the Sphinx at Giza, captured at an unknown date by an anonymous photographer. It's a study in monochrome; dusty, sandy, and stark. The texture feels almost palpable, the roughness of the carved stone contrasting with the smooth, sloping planes of the sand. The shadows create deep pools of darkness, obscuring details, yet somehow adding to the monumentality of the sculpture. I keep coming back to the head of the Sphinx, half-buried in shadow, almost as if the sculpture is in the process of re-emerging from the landscape. The photographer might have been thinking about time, and the way that geological processes work. I’m reminded of Robert Smithson's earthworks, and the way he thought about entropy and the gradual reclaiming of human artifacts by the natural world. And, like Smithson’s work, this photograph leaves me with a sense of wonder, a question mark hovering over the mysteries of history, memory, and time.