['Cape Town-Entrance to castle', 'Grahams Town-Cathedral'] before 1880

Curator: Here we have an albumen print featuring a comparative view of “Cape Town-Entrance to Castle” and “Grahams Town-Cathedral.” These cityscapes, fixed with light, offer glimpses into a South Africa before 1880. Editor: It’s a hauntingly beautiful, almost ghostly document. The tonality gives them such an antiquated aura, like peering into an echo of history. Curator: Absolutely. This "ghostly" aesthetic stems directly from the albumen printing process itself, where paper coated with egg white emulsion captures incredibly fine details. Notice how the structure and masonry in each cityscape exhibit texture and a palpable depth. This level of clarity reflects a specific moment in the material conditions of photographic technology and the evolving methods to disseminate imagery. Editor: I do find myself drawn to the cathedral in Graham's Town. The spire shooting heavenward almost mocks the mundane weight of the fortress in Cape Town. They are completely opposite architectural testaments, each whispering conflicting power narratives about religion, colonial aspirations and power structures, all through architectural design. Curator: Interesting, and accurate to what many historians point out: the rise of formalized religion went hand-in-hand with that period's colonial ambitions. Thinking materially again, this being an albumen print also tells us that a photographic positive had to have been used. What would this object have signified for the families that originally looked through them? The rise of these urban structures represent massive material and financial investments to solidify an imagined national identity. Editor: What gets me most are these ghostly remnants; they almost feel like warnings. You look into these faded prints and it feels like both a yearning and a foreboding of time marching. Each cityscape becomes a marker in a timeline far greater than any single nation. Curator: I appreciate your take; that reminds us not to get completely mired in the concrete aspects. What an albumen print signifies transcends its purely material components and the production that makes it. I’m glad you’re allowing listeners to appreciate art’s more intuitive and intimate experience.