Untitled 1980

Ursula Schulz-Dornburg made this photograph without a title. You can see the image's muted tones, its scale, and the way the light falls creates a unique process of seeing. There's something very painterly about Schulz-Dornburg's practice. It is simple, yet it possesses a beautiful sense of surface and texture. The greyscale gives it a kind of ancient feel. Your eye falls on the floating island; it looks simultaneously solid and fragile, a place that could disappear at any moment. The buildings are simple and tactile. They're made of reeds or straw, dark and rough, with little doorways that hint at the life within. The image is almost like a memory, a vision, or a dream. I'm reminded of Agnes Martin, another artist who used simple, repetitive gestures to create something meditative and profound. This piece invites us to slow down, to contemplate the world around us, and to appreciate the beauty in the everyday.