Tabaksveld op het Bindjey Estate van de Deli-Batavia Maatschappij op Sumatra (40 dagen na aanplant) c. 1900 - 1920

This is a silver gelatin print of Tabaksveld op het Bindjey Estate van de Deli-Batavia Maatschappij op Sumatra, made by an anonymous photographer. It's a landscape that seems to emerge out of trial, error, and intuition. You can sense the artist moving around to seek the best view. I sympathise with the artist, thinking about what it might have been like to be on this tobacco plantation. You can feel the humidity in the air and the weight of the sun above. The plants are arranged in geometric rows, their leaves reaching toward the sky. The photograph is carefully composed, with the horizon line and two figures drawing the eye deeper into the scene. The artist is in dialogue with other artists and with the history of landscape painting and photography. Artists are always in conversation, exchanging ideas across time, inspiring each other's creativity. We embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings beyond any fixed reading.