Bouw van het Kinderhuis van het Leger des Heils 1916

This photograph titled, "Bouw van het Kinderhuis van het Leger des Heils" shows the construction of The Salvation Army children's home. I feel for the person who made this, a construction site, trying to capture something in the making, not quite built, not yet ruined either. The picture is all browns and whites. The scene is a flat plane of piled bricks, framing a kind of awkward, hopeful composition. The more I look at it, the more I think about the surface. The surface is everything. I start to see this picture as a series of marks, a language in the making, just like the building it depicts. I try to imagine what the artist felt as they looked through the lens and snapped the photo. Did they find this moment beautiful? What did they want to convey? Painting and photography are an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, inspiring creativity and offering ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.