Archeologische opgravingen bij een terp, Tószeg 1928

Jan Lanting made this photograph of Archeologische opgravingen bij een terp, Tószeg, and well, it's like a painting made with light, shadow, and time. The way Lanting captures the texture of the earth, it feels like you could reach out and touch it. You can almost smell the damp soil, the layers of sediment. I think that there is something so poetic about that, about how the layers tell a story of human habitation, of lives lived and things left behind. It reminds you that we are all just another layer in the earth's long history. It reminds me of some of Agnes Martin's drawings with their quiet, meditative lines. Both artists are dealing with time, memory, and the ephemeral nature of existence, but in very different ways. With this piece, Lanting shows how art can be a conversation across time, a way of connecting with the past and imagining the future.