Saying Evening Prayers, Hans Aarsman, 1982

gelatin silver print, h 49.5cm × w 59.5cm More details
© Hans Aarsman

The photographer and writer Aarsman likes to ridicule photography that finds its way onto the walls of a museum. He feels we should not take photographs too seriously. There is no such thing as photographic reality, only coincidence and the fleeting moment. When he photographed the state of religion in the Netherlands for the Rijksmuseum in 1982, he was busy for an entire year. He found perhaps the finest and truest image – he must have seen it a thousand times – right at home: his father engaged in a daily ritual of contemplation.