Huizen van een Batakdorp, met twee mensen met spullen op hun hoofd, Padang 1891 - 1922

Christiaan Benjamin Nieuwenhuis made this gelatin silver print of a Batak village in Padang at the turn of the century. I imagine Nieuwenhuis setting up his camera, maybe lugging it through the jungle, to capture these incredible structures. They remind me of gazebos, but they're much more than that: granaries, houses, places of gathering. The roofs reach up like prows of ships, as though ready to sail away. I'm really drawn to the two figures in the foreground. The one carrying a load on their head seems to look straight at Nieuwenhuis. The second figure is much smaller and to the left, looking straight ahead. I wonder what Nieuwenhuis was thinking when he chose to include them in the frame. Does the image tell a story? Are they inhabitants of the village going about their day? Did they ask to be in the photo? I love to think of artists across time, Nieuwenhuis and me, looking, recording, questioning. It’s a conversation— a slow, thoughtful exchange of ideas.