Gezicht op een veld met tabaksplanten op Sumatra c. 1900 - 1915

Curator: I'm immediately struck by the sheer scale of this photograph, the seemingly endless rows receding into the distance. There's a stark, almost unsettling beauty to it. Editor: This is "Gezicht op een veld met tabaksplanten op Sumatra," or "View of a Field with Tobacco Plants in Sumatra." We believe it was taken between 1900 and 1915 by Carl J. Kleingrothe. The image, a mixed media photograph, shows exactly what the title suggests, but with an eye towards the industrial nature of agriculture. Curator: The overwhelming presence of these repetitive tobacco plants is unsettling; there’s something very powerful, and potentially ominous, in that visual repetition. It hints at something far beyond simply farming. Almost like a wave or an army of similar green elements. Editor: Precisely. Consider the economic and social conditions of Sumatra at that time. Vast tobacco plantations were established by Dutch colonizers, turning the island into a key center for tobacco production. Kleingrothe's photo reveals this industrial reality; consider the intense labour and resources invested to bring the plant so meticulously arranged to be cultivated and harvested. Curator: Right, the meticulously ordered field contrasts starkly with what must have been the reality for the laborers, often exploited, working that land. It makes you question the true cost of tobacco, symbolized by those neatly arranged rows. I wonder how that shaped their identity. Editor: We can analyze these elements using symbols: these neat rows might not only signify order but also allude towards social hierarchies enforced in that context of plantation economies. In our collective consciousness, what do these leaves bring back to our perception, beyond trade commodities? Curator: I can’t deny a certain aesthetic draw to this photographic documentation. I agree with the social issues brought in here, especially thinking of today. There is a legacy on tobacco usage linked with images. Editor: By framing the artwork this way we can uncover important insight towards how photography shaped reality itself by reflecting the way materials and the people were employed for a sole industrial process. Curator: Absolutely, these tobacco leaves contain within their images a wealth of meanings about culture, economic activity and society at that time. Editor: Indeed. Analyzing this image through symbolic reading with materials reveals much, inviting us towards contemplation of consumption and the processes involved.