Landschap met sawah, voormalig Nederlands-Indië c. 1900

This photograph of a rice paddy in the former Dutch East Indies was taken by Onnes Kurkdjian sometime between 1870 and 1900. It is both a beautiful vista and a product of the complex colonial relationship between the Netherlands and what is now Indonesia. Looking at the careful arrangement of the rice terraces, one can see the labour and skill required to cultivate this land. The image invites us to consider the social conditions that made this landscape possible. What was the relationship between the local population and the Dutch colonial authorities? How did the cultivation of rice shape the social and economic structures of the region? To understand this image fully, we might turn to historical archives, colonial records, and the oral histories of the Indonesian people. By exploring these resources, we can gain a deeper understanding of the complex social and political forces that shaped this landscape and the lives of those who lived and worked on it.