Gerda Bergsma in lang gewaad zittend aan tafel in een woonhuis op Sumatra 1914 - 1926

This photograph captures Gerda Bergsma seated at a table in a Sumatran home. It was taken by an anonymous photographer, at an unknown date. I wonder about the photographer, trying to capture the essence of a person in a place. The textures in this image are so captivating—the woven chairs, the patterned rug, the fabric of Bergsma’s gown. There’s a domesticity, an intimacy, in this scene. The light is soft, diffused, creating a sense of calm. You get a feeling of a particular moment frozen in time. It’s like a painting, but made with light and shadow. I see the way the composition frames Bergsma, how the objects around her tell a story. It's as though the anonymous photographer, through trial and error, intuition and vision, found a way to capture a space that feels both distant and familiar. It makes me think about my own work and how we, as artists, are always in conversation with one another, across time and place.