Gezicht op vier onbekende personen zittend voor een woning before 1897

Christiaan Johan Neeb created this photograph of four people sitting in front of a dwelling. The image itself is a gelatin silver print, a process that was becoming increasingly common in the late 19th century, favored for its sharpness and reproducibility. But think about what this reproducibility would have meant in a colonial context. The photograph flattens the individuals, making them anonymous subjects within a broader colonial narrative. While appearing to document a scene objectively, the image participates in constructing a specific representation of the colonized, mediated through the photographer's lens and the technological apparatus of photography. The labor involved is thus not only the physical act of taking the picture, but also the intellectual and ideological work of framing these individuals within a power dynamic. This piece invites us to reflect on the power dynamics inherent in image-making, challenging us to consider whose stories are told and how.