Sorteren van de geplukte koffiebessen 1900 - 1935

This stereoscopic photograph, "Sorteren van de geplukte koffiebessen", or "Sorting the picked coffee beans" was made by Neville Keasberry. It shows a sea of figures intensely working. What strikes me is the tonal range, the way the light shifts and plays across the scene. It’s almost like a grayscale painting, with the figures rendered in subtle variations of tone. Look closely and you’ll see the texture created by the small coffee beans, spread out on mats. These textures are really tangible, it gives a sense of the weight and physicality of the beans themselves. There's a lot of repetition, but there’s a certain rhythm too. It reminds me of some of Bernd and Hilla Becher’s photographs of industrial structures, but this is alive with human activity. It’s a testament to the power of art to find beauty and complexity in the everyday. It’s a conversation across time about how we see and interpret the world around us.