Mensen in een maalstroom before 1916

"Mensen in een maalstroom," or "People in a whirlpool," might be the title of a painting, but it's a photograph in a book. And looking at Adelaide Hanscom Leeson's image, I imagine the darkroom as her studio, the chemicals like liquid paint, coaxing the figures out of the shadows, the way a painter builds up layers of color. I feel a kinship with Leeson as I look at the image. She’s swirling bodies, maybe souls together in a vortex of light and dark. It is not so different from the way I try to move color around on a canvas. The circle format encloses a space for experimentation, for trying out something new. It’s like she’s saying, "Let’s see what happens if I push this further." It's not just about capturing a scene, but about creating a mood, a feeling, an experience. And that, to me, is what art is all about. We're all just trying to make sense of the world in our own way, adding our voices to the mix.