Man waadt door water met twee gedode vogels in de hand tijdens een jachtpartij, vermoedelijk bij Arcachon 1897

Editor: Here we have an albumen print from 1897, its full title being “Man waadt door water met twee gedode vogels in de hand tijdens een jachtpartij, vermoedelijk bij Arcachon." What strikes me is the seemingly undisturbed surface of the water and the almost proud way the hunter displays his kill. What's your take on this? Curator: It's a deceptively simple image, isn't it? We must unpack its cultural and historical weight. Think about late 19th-century photography. It often presented a romanticized view of leisure and nature, masking the social and environmental costs of such activities. Editor: Environmental costs? Curator: Exactly. Consider the act of hunting itself. While presented here as a sort of sport, it raises ethical questions about our relationship with the natural world. Who has the right to dominate, to take life for recreation? Also, we have to think about who is absent from the frame. Editor: You mean who isn’t being represented? Curator: Precisely. Who profits from these leisurely pursuits? Who cleans the game? Who maintains these spaces? The image almost intentionally lacks any contextual clues that may challenge its initial impression. Also, I wonder how our perspective would shift if this same picture had captured a woman with a hunted bird? Editor: It makes you think about the gendered history of this kind of trophy. I see what you mean; the image does much more than initially meets the eye. Curator: Exactly, by examining these absences, the silences surrounding seemingly simple imagery we can truly challenge traditional art-historical interpretations and open doors for meaningful conversation.