Straat met huizen in het stadje Pharijong tijdens de zomer 1903 - 1906

This photograph, "Straat met huizen in het stadje Pharijong tijdens de zomer" shows a street in Pharijong, Tibet. The whole image is rendered in grayscale, with soft, diffused marks that create a hazy atmosphere. I’m drawn to the way the artist, D.T. Dalton, uses the tonal range. It’s not about sharp contrasts; instead, the subtle gradations give the image a dreamlike quality. Look at the way the buildings fade into the background. The tones feel so soft and delicate. The photograph almost feels like a memory, distant and a little blurred around the edges. The photograph reminds me of the work of Gerhard Richter; that quality of blur. It is as if the artist wanted to convey a sense of impermanence or distance. In the end, art is always in dialogue, always in conversation with what came before, and what is yet to come.