Gezicht langs de Oliepalmen Allee St. Cyr, Sumatra (Oelpalmen Allee St. Cyr) c. 1885 - 1900

This photograph, "Gezicht langs de Oliepalmen Allee St. Cyr, Sumatra," by Stafhell & Kleingrothe, captures a scene in colonial Sumatra. The image presents a carefully cultivated alley of oil palms, a visual testament to the reshaping of the Indonesian landscape under Dutch colonial rule. The photograph, in its composition, evokes a sense of ordered, productive space. The neat rows of palms and the manicured ground speak volumes about the colonial project's ambition to transform the land for economic gain. The scene reflects the social and economic structures imposed on the colony. Oil palm plantations were central to the Dutch economy. Historical archives, company records, and studies of colonial agricultural practices, help reveal the complex interplay of economic exploitation, environmental transformation, and social control embedded in seemingly benign images like this one. Art like this is contingent on its social and institutional context.