Beklimming van een bergwand met ladders, nabij Leukerbad 1878 - 1883

This photograph, taken by Florentin Charnaux, shows a mountainside ascent using ladders, likely somewhere in the vicinity of Leukerbad. It is a modest albumen print, a photographic process that was widely used for commercial portraiture and landscape views. The image captures a kind of infrastructure, in which ladders made of wood and metal have been attached to the rock face. We can consider these materials – wood, metal, rock – as primary actors in the scene, as significant as any human figure. The photograph thus prompts us to consider the labor required to build the passageway, and the economic forces that motivated its creation. Perhaps this was a route taken by shepherds, or a primitive tourist attraction? In any case, by focusing on the material conditions of the ascent, the photograph suggests that landscape isn't just a pretty view. Rather, it's a zone of human interaction, and often of human labor. It reminds us that what we see – whether in art, or in life – is always the result of specific processes and choices, all of which are socially significant.