Gezicht in de Black Canyon, Verenigde Staten 1936

This gelatin silver print, titled 'Gezicht in de Black Canyon, Verenigde Staten' was created by Wouter Cool. In Cool's work, the traditional artistic ‘hand’ is absent, or at least downplayed. He used a camera, a machine. The final image involves a high degree of chemical processing, and skilled darkroom work, yet the final product presents itself as objective and unmediated. The photograph captures the immense scale of the Black Canyon, but also hints at human incursion. We can see the dirt paths used in the construction of the Hoover Dam, which was started in 1931, just prior to this photograph being taken. The dam project represented a massive mobilization of labor and industrial resources, a key episode in American history. Thinking about this, photography has always been linked to wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption. It invites us to consider the importance of materials, making, and context in understanding the full meaning of an artwork.