Groepsportret van een groep onbekende vrouwen met verkoopwaar op weg naar de Pasar 1891 - 1912

This is Christiaan Benjamin Nieuwenhuis’ photograph, “Groepsportret van een groep onbekende vrouwen met verkoopwaar op weg naar de Pasar,” a group portrait of women heading to the Pasar market. The tonal range feels tight, leaning into sepia, like a faded memory. Look at the weight these women carry, both the physical goods balanced on their heads and the unseen burdens of their daily lives. Nieuwenhuis captures a moment of pause, a breath before the bustle of the market. I wonder, did he consider the gaze? What it means to be seen, to be documented through a colonial lens? These women remind me of the work of Seydou Keïta, another photographer who used portraiture to celebrate the dignity and style of his subjects, albeit in a different context. Both artists, in their own way, prompt us to consider who has the power to represent whom, and how.