Sandels boot Besitan, Tandjong Poera, Sumatra (P. Sandel's Schiffe Besitan, Tandjong Poera) 1898 - 1900

This photograph by Heinrich Ernst & Co captures the Sandels ships in Tandjong Poera, Sumatra. The boats, modern for their time, represent connection, travel, and trade. Water, as depicted in the river, is a symbol of life, purification, and the subconscious. Reflections in the water evoke the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus, who saw his reflection and was consumed by it, echoing a universal theme of self-awareness and the mirroring of reality. Think of the many myths in which the hero has to cross a body of water. This voyage of the Sandels ships is much more than a photograph, it is an echo of a timeless motif. This primal relationship with water engages our collective memory, stirring deep emotional responses. The allure of the unknown, the promise of new horizons, and the ever-present reminder of life’s fluidity—water binds us across cultures and epochs, appearing in our art again and again. Like an endless cycle, the significance of water persists, morphing and adapting through time.