Oogsten van suikerriet op de plantage van de suikeronderneming Nieuw Tersana, Cheribon, voormalig Nederlands-Indië c. 1890 - 1911

This photograph by Onnes Kurkdjian captures a scene of sugar cane harvesting at the Nieuw Tersana plantation in the former Dutch East Indies. The composition is dominated by the dense, vertical lines of the sugar cane stalks contrasted against the scattered, horizontal cut canes in the foreground. This creates a layered effect, almost like a curtain obscuring and revealing the human figures interspersed within the landscape. The monochromatic palette emphasizes the textures—the rough, fibrous stalks against the smooth, cut canes. The light is diffused, creating a sense of flatness that paradoxically highlights the depth created by the layering. The photograph’s structure invites us to consider the relationships between labor, landscape, and representation. The repetitive, almost rhythmic, arrangement of the cane suggests an underlying order imposed upon the natural landscape by colonial economic structures. In the photograph the formal elements reflect the socio-political realities of the time, underlining the complex interplay between visibility and invisibility within the colonial context.