Dimensions: height 102 mm, width 142 mm
Copyright: Rijks Museum: Open Domain
Curator: Let’s discuss this photograph, “Restanten van gebouwen aan de Via di Mercurio in Pompeï,” a gelatin-silver print from circa 1860 to 1900 by Giorgio Sommer, here at the Rijksmuseum. The remnants of buildings line a street in Pompeii. Editor: There's a palpable sense of absence in this image. The ruins against the bright sky feel ghostly, the silence almost deafening. Curator: Sommer’s photograph freezes a moment of rediscovery, yet it also embodies a longer history. Consider the labor that extracted these materials, the societal structures that defined ancient Roman urban planning, the volcanic eruption—how power, nature, and human life were abruptly interrupted. Editor: It makes me think about the act of photographic documentation itself, framing and capturing these materials to bring Pompeii to European society. The image, a gelatin silver print, it is a carefully composed tableau, made with skilled labor for consumption as knowledge, leisure. I wonder how many prints were made of this scene. Curator: The city’s destruction and subsequent excavation is a violent intrusion on daily life, now turned spectacle, or documentation for academic interest. Its resurrection offers a stark parallel to how historical narratives can reinforce societal structures by choosing who gets to be remembered, who is excluded, and for what reason. Editor: Right, the selection, the framing! Even down to the specific choice of chemical process. Photography emerged in lockstep with industrial production and archaeology's development as a formal discipline. This photograph has many things to tell us about its contemporary moment too. Curator: And who gets to tell that story matters. Consider the gendered roles in archaeology at that time, the class distinctions of who funded excavations, the implications of depicting a colonized space, all contributing to this "objective" record. Editor: It's a good reminder of how something that looks still is dynamic, it involves labour and time. Curator: I agree. It pushes me to contemplate history's complex layers. Editor: Absolutely. It pushes us to consider the lives erased in history as much as the monumental structures.
Be the first to comment and join the conversation on the ultimate creative platform.