Wilhelmina en Dootje van Zijll de Jong zittend op een boomstam 1930 - 1935

This photograph, “Wilhelmina en Dootje van Zijll de Jong zittend op een boomstam” was made some time ago, we don’t know by whom, or exactly when, but its very existence, as a record, shows a commitment to the process of capturing time. I’m drawn to the tactile quality of the photograph, its surface having been worn away by time, by touch and weather. The limited grayscale palette enhances the texture, creating a visual depth that invites you to look closer. Notice the delicate gradations of tone in the women’s outfits, as if the clothing, and the picture itself, are fading into the forest in which they sat. There’s something so poignant about this image. It's like looking into a dream, a fleeting memory, and it makes me think about the paintings of Gerhard Richter, in which blurred photographic images are lovingly, if melancholically, recreated through paint. Both reveal art as an ongoing conversation, embracing the richness of ambiguity.