Groepsportret van lokale Surinaamse bevolking 1905

This photogravure, dating from 1905, was made by Jacob Evert Wesenhagen and depicts a group portrait of local Surinamese people. The photogravure process begins with a copper plate, coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue, exposed to a photographic positive. It is then etched to varying depths before being inked and pressed onto paper, resulting in a high-quality print with rich tonal range and a velvety texture, visible as a subtle but definite materiality. The image is rendered in a monochromatic blue, and this cool, detached effect speaks to the cultural context of early photography. These types of images became a tool for colonial administrations to catalogue and classify indigenous populations; the detached and clinical nature of the medium turning people into objects of study and instruments of governance. We can see how the very materials and processes used to create this image are inseparable from its broader social implications.