Rokende vulkaan met puin op de voorgrond in Nederlands-Indië 1912

Onnes Kurkdjian captured this image of a smoking volcano with debris in the foreground in the Dutch East Indies. The monochromatic palette creates a timeless, almost otherworldly quality. It’s like looking at a landscape from a dream, all muted tones and stark contrasts. The texture here, or what I imagine it would feel like, is so compelling. You’ve got the dense, grainy earth at the base, leading up to the smooth, ominous slope of the volcano itself. And then, that billowing cloud of smoke – it's soft, yet carries this immense power. The physicality of the scene is palpable; you can almost feel the heat rising from the earth. Look at the way the light catches the edge of that cloud, defining its form, but also suggesting its transience. It reminds me a bit of some of Gerhard Richter’s cloud paintings, which similarly capture the sublime in the everyday. There’s something about the way the artist frames the volcano that speaks to the idea of art as an ongoing conversation. It’s not about definitive answers, but about embracing the questions.