Opgezette Amerikaanse torenvalk 1871 - 1876

William Notman made this photograph of a pair of American Kestrels, or 'Opgezette Amerikaanse torenvalk' in Dutch, sometime in the late 19th century. At this time, photography was increasingly being used for scientific documentation, yet here, Notman seems to be doing something different. He has posed the birds in a way that suggests a sentimental relationship. This was a time when people’s relationships with the natural world were changing. Colonial expansion and industrialization led to both a greater interest in the natural world, and the destruction of it. The Kestrels, perched on a carefully constructed set, become stand-ins for a kind of lost innocence. This image asks us to consider our own relationship with the natural world, and perhaps even mourn what we have lost. It is an intimate portrait of two birds, but also a reflection of a society grappling with its place in the world.