Gezicht op Muxima before 1886

Curator: This fascinating image is entitled "Gezicht op Muxima," which translates to "View of Muxima," captured by José Augusto da Cunha Moraes before 1886. It's presented as an albumen print, a photographic process quite popular in the late 19th century. What are your immediate thoughts, considering its form and content? Editor: Serenity, perhaps a touch melancholic. The tones are muted, almost ghostly. The landscape—a settlement hugging the waterline beneath a hill— feels so distant, somehow remote not just geographically but also in time. There’s something very evocative about seeing a place recorded in this way, a place clinging to existence between the water and the land. It also feels significant given Muxima’s deeply important sacred role. Curator: Yes, the print definitely imparts a sense of distance. Albumen prints were created using a thin layer of egg white to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper, which lent itself to a distinct glossy surface and a subtle range of tones—characteristics that definitely affect how we experience this landscape. I wonder if Da Cunha Moraes, beyond merely documenting, wanted to convey Muxima's historical weight, it was already such an old place. Editor: The way the town seems almost mirrored in the water... It suggests layers of meaning, doesn’t it? Reflections aren’t just about doubling what’s visible. In religious symbology water holds cleansing properties; Muxima held a church which was the oldest in Angola and a site for pilgrimage... Seeing it mirrored implies renewal. Curator: Absolutely! The choice of photography and the albumen process becomes really poignant then. It captures not just a visual scene, but a place layered with spiritual history. In visual terms it invites contemplation through it's tonal subtlety, not really giving much away in ways that a very bold graphic ever could. What is rendered becomes almost translucent! Editor: You’re right! It allows for reverie, rather than forcing a viewpoint. And thinking about that mirrored effect in the water...perhaps, even suggests that Muxima’s identity exists in dialogue between what is and what it means. It’s history made tangible, in fleeting shades of albumen. Thank you for bringing this image to life, I had not quite grasped its true essence. Curator: And thank you for unpacking the deep symbolic undercurrents; I, in turn, have also appreciated it much more from your iconographic reading!