Huiskapel van Mlle Lavalière, Rue Nicole, Parijs 1890 - 1927

This photograph of the Huiskapel van Mlle Lavalière in Paris was taken by Eugène Atget at an unknown date. There's a lovely, soft focus to the sepia tones, like memory itself is a little out of whack. The image feels like a stage set, doesn't it? I’m drawn to the way the plants crowd in, obscuring the chapel's entrance, almost as if nature is reclaiming this space. The door is slightly off-center, drawing my eye to the shadowed threshold, and then up again to the flourish above the door. The plants, the masonry, the door furniture – they all speak of a place in transition, caught somewhere between decay and the enduring appeal of the old world. It brings to mind Berenice Abbott, who, decades later, also captured the changing face of urban environments, with a similar eye for detail and a deep sense of history. Art’s always a conversation, right? A way of seeing and thinking that keeps evolving, even as we look back.