Hangbrug over een rivier in het Himalaya-gebergte 1835

This is an anonymous engraving of a suspension bridge over a river in the Himalayas. The image presents a scene imbued with the visual language of the picturesque, a popular aesthetic of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. However, the "picturesque" flattens cultural specificity to a generalized aesthetic appreciation. This artistic movement romanticized landscapes, often exoticizing the people and places it depicted. Here, the engraving reduces a complex interplay of cultures, histories, and power dynamics to a single, consumable image. Consider, for example, who is absent from the image: the colonizers who traversed these landscapes and the local communities whose lives were irrevocably changed by these encounters. This absence speaks volumes about the power dynamics inherent in the act of representation. What do you feel when you see the vastness of the landscape, knowing that this vista carries with it layers of untold stories and unseen faces?