Gezicht op een brug over de Ganges before 1867

Editor: This is an early photograph, entitled “Gezicht op een brug over de Ganges,” placing it before 1867, by Thomas George Glover. The print has a faded quality, and it looks almost like a sketch. What can you tell me about it? Curator: This photograph gives us an incredible insight into the colonial project. The image shows the Peeran Kulleer bridge. Consider the physical construction of the bridge itself. Who built it, with what materials sourced from where, and under what labor conditions? That tells us a lot about the political and economic structures at play. Editor: So, looking at the means of production is key? Curator: Absolutely. The Ganges wasn't just a picturesque river. It was a crucial transportation route and a source of contention and control. The act of photographing this bridge becomes a means of documentation, and thus an act of control. Editor: So the photograph isn't just capturing a landscape, it's capturing power dynamics? Curator: Precisely! Consider also the materials used in early photography - the silver, the paper. Where did these materials come from, and what was the environmental cost of obtaining them? Photography itself was a technology embedded in a system of extraction and consumption. Editor: It makes me consider all the invisible labor behind such a seemingly simple landscape photo. I hadn't thought about the materials used in the print itself and their origin. Curator: Seeing the art and understanding the material history empowers a more critical understanding.