Groot huis op de suikeronderneming Nieuw Tersana, Cheribon, voormalig Nederlands-Indië c. 1890 - 1935

This photograph shows a large house on the Nieuw Tersana sugar plantation in Cheribon, which was then the Dutch East Indies. It was taken by Onnes Kurkdjian sometime in the late 19th century. The image gives me the impression of a faded memory. The details are clear, yet there is a softness, a dreaminess, in the light and the way the scene is framed. The house, so solid and present, is softened by the surrounding foliage. I keep looking at the light inside the building, it seems to glow from within, and I start to imagine the life that must have filled the space. There’s a tension between the cool detachment of the photographic medium and the warmth of the scene. It’s a historical document, sure, but it’s also a mood, an atmosphere. The longer I look, the more I sense the layers of history and human experience. Like a painting, it captures a moment in time, inviting us to reflect on the complexities of place, memory, and representation. Just like the work of Lisette Model, the artist seems to say that it is not what you photograph but how.