Man loopt over een brug over de Neva in Sint-Petersburg 1898

This silver gelatin print shows a man crossing a bridge over the Neva in Saint Petersburg. The man carries a case of images, perhaps photographs or prints. He strides confidently, his figure a dark silhouette against the pale buildings. This figure reminds me of Hermes, the messenger god, perpetually traversing boundaries. Like Hermes, the man in the photograph is a carrier of information, a conduit between places and people. The bridge itself becomes a symbolic space, a liminal zone connecting different realms of experience. Think of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, where merchants and artists once traded their wares, or even older, the Roman bridges that facilitated the spread of ideas across empires. This image speaks to the cyclical nature of urban life, the constant flow of people and images that shape our collective memory. The desire to connect, to communicate, and to leave our mark on the world remains a fundamental human drive. This photograph captures a moment in that ongoing narrative, a fleeting glimpse of the past that resonates with our present.