Leprozenkolonie Danaradja: strandtaferelen en ossenkar 1922

This photographic triptych, Leprozenkolonie Danaradja: strandtaferelen en ossenkar, captures scenes from a leper colony, though the artist is unknown. The sepia tones lend it an antique feel, but also mute the scene, giving it a documentary feel. The central image has so much texture: the rough wood of the cart, the hay, and the skin of the animals. It makes me think about the physical labor of these people and animals, and how their bodies are so present in their work. Notice how the other images, a figure wading in the water and a seascape, have a different feel, the softness of the water a cool relief from the harshness of the scene in the center. It's a little reminiscent of August Sander's portraits of people in Weimar Germany, in the way it tries to capture the details of a life, even though it's hard to really know what we are seeing. Art is so often a conversation across time.