Corvaja Palace, Taormina 1899

Editor: This gelatin-silver print, "Corvaja Palace, Taormina" by Giuseppe Bruno, dated 1899, has such a stillness about it. I'm really struck by how the buildings seem to emerge from the sepia tones. What's your perspective on this photograph? Curator: Considering its materiality, I see a layering of time and labor embedded within this image. The choice of the gelatin-silver process itself, popular at the end of the 19th century, speaks to a specific historical moment in the industrialization of photographic production. It's no longer a daguerreotype. The architecture documents the exploitation of material resources like the stone, its carving. Do you see how the building casts a dark shadow in contrast with a sun-bathed neighboring facade? Editor: Absolutely, it creates such a strong contrast. Are you saying that contrast also is about how these spaces have evolved over time, shaped by different social forces? Curator: Precisely. This "landscape" isn't merely a picturesque view; it’s the result of quarrying, construction, and continuous cycles of modification tied to human activity. The city has shaped by human effort as this print shows. And also consider the labor behind producing a photograph in 1899. It was part of an increasing industry aimed at selling tourism. Editor: So, rather than just admiring the beautiful old buildings, we should be thinking about the hands that built them and the industry around the photograph itself? Curator: Yes. Think about what resources went into making the paper, what work went into coating and developing. That image embodies complex relationship of humans in their environment. What does the image make you think about now that we are looking into these ideas? Editor: I see a story of resources, human hands, commerce and transformation documented in that city’s very presence! Thank you; that’s definitely changed how I look at photographs like these.