Reliëf van een apadana in Persepolis before 1885

Curator: Let's take a look at this engraving. It’s titled "Relief of an Apadana in Persepolis," created before 1885 by Jane Dieulafoy. It presents an architectural relief from ancient Persia, meticulously rendered. Editor: My first thought? A silent scream frozen in stone. The sheer density of detail, like whispers of history trying to break free. Curator: That "density" you're sensing points to the immense labor involved. Consider the materials – the stone itself, the tools used to carve it, the logistical effort to even transport such massive blocks. Then consider the workers, their skill, their lives—likely laborers under the Persian empire producing symbols of power and control. Editor: Absolutely, the control is palpable. It makes me think about the power of the artistic endeavor itself. To shape not just stone, but collective memory! It’s quite a feeling! Curator: We are experiencing an afterimage, mediated first through the physical act of carving into stone, and now mediated again through the production of this engraving as a form of historical record and cultural consumption. Who was it made for, and why? Was it a scientific document or exoticized tourism? It also appears like this book was carefully handled to leave this mark blank - likely the image was never printed, but that would have taken skill as well... Editor: Fascinating—considering what labor it took not to mark part of the art. You can imagine the person pausing on it, changing their mind for some unknown reason. Curator: Yes, this negative space creates a story. So it looks like we get a visual history presented from an artful perspective with an unknowable mark over the work as a whole. In examining Jane Dieulafoy’s artwork and all its possible levels of artistic intervention. Editor: In essence it reveals our persistent dance with history itself - where every artist chooses which blocks to reveal, to conceal, and occasionally leaves a mysterious empty block where we are free to write our own imaginings on. A stone of memory forever humming with potential interpretations.