Machines en werknemers in een hal van suikerfabriek Ngandjoek op Java c. 1925 - 1930

Isken captured Machines en werknemers in een hal van suikerfabriek Ngandjoek op Java in an undated photograph. Looking at the image, I imagine the factory is a hive of activity. The machines are huge. Cogs turn, pistons pump, and there’s a sense of relentless mechanical energy. It's beautiful and unnerving. I wonder what it was like for Isken to frame this scene. How did he feel about the factory workers in relation to the machines? Was he trying to capture a sense of progress, or something else? You can see the workers are dwarfed by the machinery. The cool, sepia tones speak of an earlier age. And you can imagine the noise, the smells, the relentless pace of the sugar production.