Twee opnames van vissen in een aquarium before 1890

These photographs of fish in an aquarium were produced by Ernst Julius Cohen, using magnesium flash photography. Consider the fish, an ancient symbol laden with meaning. In antiquity, fish represented fertility and abundance, often associated with deities of the sea. Early Christians adopted the fish as a secret symbol, the 'Ichthys', a coded declaration of faith during persecution. But here, removed from myth and religion, the fish are presented as specimens, observed in their manufactured environment. The act of observing these creatures behind glass evokes a sense of detachment. A separation, where the natural world is viewed as a spectacle or an object of scientific study, losing some primeval symbolism. This photograph becomes a symbol itself, representative of our modern, scientific era, a time where we seek to understand and categorize nature, sometimes at the expense of its deeper, more mysterious connection to the human spirit. The fish, once a sacred emblem, is now a subject in a tank. A reminder that symbols, like living beings, evolve.