Graafwerk in open terrein 1903 - 1913

This photograph, titled “Graafwerk in open terrein,” meaning Excavation in Open Terrain, was made at an unknown date by an anonymous photographer. The image presents a group of men pausing from work on a rural excavation site. We might consider this photograph in the context of late 19th or early 20th century colonial labor. Though anonymous, it suggests that the photographer was closely tied to a specific commercial or governmental project. The photograph’s focus is not on art, but on documentation. The scene shows us something of the social hierarchy of labor, in which a few men rest while others remain standing. The location is likely somewhere in the Dutch East Indies, and if we want to understand it, we need to research the economic and political interests of the Dutch colonial project during this period. In order to fully understand this image, we can use archives of photography and other documents of the colonial period to discover the social conditions that shaped its making.