Boog op het eiland Bigeh nabij Aswan before 1859

Curator: Looking at this remarkable photograph, taken by Francis Frith before 1859, we see the ruins on Bigeh Island near Aswan, specifically a rather majestic archway. Editor: My goodness, the scale is staggering, isn’t it? It makes me feel so tiny, gazing through that portal into history, into sand, into time itself practically. Curator: Indeed. What’s particularly interesting about Frith's work is the way he documented these sites within the framework of Victorian-era colonial narratives. His photographs, though visually stunning, must be viewed with an awareness of the power dynamics at play, the exoticization of ancient cultures for Western audiences. Editor: Power dynamics… exoticization... absolutely, yes, but I am getting lost in the loveliness here! The light! The feeling of utter desolation mixed with… is that hope peeking through that arch? It feels melancholic, romantic. Curator: It's a sentiment that resonates, reflecting on the complexities of landscape photography in this period, the artist both bearing witness and inevitably shaping the narrative. These structures carry stories of ancient civilizations, stories that are echoed, amended, or sometimes erased, based on who holds the lens. Editor: Absolutely. It also looks like such hard work too! I mean imagine lugging all that photographic equipment around in the scorching heat and working on glass plates no less. Did they even have cold beer back then? Probably not… but you know what, all the layers are part of its fascination, you know? The literal dust but the historical layers too. It is like this photograph isn't just showing us Bigeh but *being* a record. Curator: Exactly, it exists now as a palimpsest, of landscape, history and, perhaps unintentionally, colonialism and early photography all caught in this fleeting moment. Editor: Fleeting but now here... again! Thank goodness for images like this hey! Curator: Agreed. Let's carry on shall we? There's much more to explore.