Twee rijtuigen rijden langs een plein in Jakarta, een hiervan heeft op de zijkant de tekst Hotel des Indes staan. 1900 - 1911

This small black and white photograph shows two carriages riding along a square in Jakarta; one of them has the text 'Hotel des Indes' on the side. It was made by Johanna Hermina Marmelstein. Look closely and you'll see that Marmelstein has embraced the granular texture of the photo. This isn't hyper-realism; it's a record of a place and time, but also of light, atmosphere, and the very act of seeing. The tones of gray, almost like a charcoal drawing, give it a timeless quality, making you feel like you’re looking at a memory. Notice the tree, a huge umbrella of leaves, dominating the image, dwarfing the carriages and figures below. This is a recurring feature, a sort of grounded monumentality, which you can also see in the work of Eugène Atget. But where Atget can feel formal, there's something very immediate and intimate about this image. Maybe it’s in the way the carriages are framed by the architecture, as if the whole thing is a stage set. It reminds you that art is always a conversation, an ongoing exchange of ideas and visions across time.