Compositie van veertien foto's van onderwijs en onderzoek aan de Keizerlijke Militair-Medische Academie, gecombineerd met medische instrumenten en voorwerpen ter decoratie 1913

This photo collage was made by V. Sabel’skij, bringing together fourteen images of the Imperial Military Medical Academy. The monochrome palette and the grid format offer a glimpse into a world of medical academia. I’m curious about Sabel’skij’s process, how the images are arranged, and how the whole composition came into being through intuition and design. You can imagine him shuffling these images around, positioning and repositioning until they formed a whole. I’m drawn to the sharp, metallic gleam of the medical instruments. These tools are so visceral and clinical; it makes you consider the contrast with the softness of the photographic paper. It reminds me of the work of other artists who play with grids and repetition, like Bernd and Hilla Becher. I imagine Sabel’skij, much like the Bechers, meticulously documenting this place of study and research. It’s an ongoing conversation, right? Artists are always responding to the world and to each other. Photography, like painting, is a way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing life, with all its ambiguities and uncertainties.