Pagina 110 van fotoboek van de Algemeene Vereeniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatra (A.V.R.O.S.) c. 1924 - 1925

J.W. Meyster made this photograph in Sumatra. It's a page from a photo album that documents the rubber plantations on the east coast. The faded sepia tones make me think of a world that's both distant and immediate. I see the workers unloading carts piled high with leaves, the weight of the colonial industry pressing down on their labor. You can imagine Meyster framing this shot, trying to capture the scale and the activity, but also maybe something about the human cost. There's something so matter-of-fact about the way these images were made, yet they're loaded with the complexities of history. These images prompt us to think about the act of witnessing, recording, and interpreting, and how our understanding of the past is always filtered through layers of perspective and power.