Fotoreproductie van een tekening van Charles Waterton die samen met andere mensen een alligator vangt before 1866

This is a photoreproduction of an anonymous drawing, depicting Charles Waterton and others capturing an alligator. The image, likely printed using photomechanical techniques, is small and unassuming, but it speaks volumes about labor, class, and colonial power. The drawing's lines, reproduced through printing, show the labor-intensive act of subduing the animal. Waterton, presumably of a higher social class, directs the efforts of others, likely local people whose physical work is essential to the capture. The print thus exposes a hierarchy inherent in the colonial context, where the labor of some enables the adventures of others. Consider the original drawing, and the layers of work involved in its reproduction and distribution. The print itself becomes a commodity, a representation of an exotic encounter, divorced from the physical reality and human cost of the event. Understanding this image requires us to acknowledge the making of the drawing, the printing, and the wider systems of labor and power that it reflects.