(5) [Persepolis] 1840 - 1869

Luigi Pesce captured this photograph of Persepolis sometime in the 19th century. The sepia tone lends a sense of antiquity, almost as if the image itself is a relic excavated from the sands of time. The photograph's structure is anchored by the carved relief on the left, its verticality contrasting with the horizontal expanse of the landscape. The ruins, rendered in muted browns and tans, speak to the passage of time and the disintegration of once-grand structures. Pesce's choice to focus on the details of the relief invites us to consider not just the physical remains but also the symbolic language embedded within them. The composition invites a semiotic reading, where the ruins act as signs pointing to a lost civilization. The play of light and shadow across the stone surfaces enhances the textural richness of the ruins, emphasizing their materiality and the physical processes of decay. It encourages a reflection on the nature of history and memory.