Gezicht op een baai bij Yangasa Levu before 1899

Curator: Here we have a gelatin-silver print from before 1899 by W. McM. Woodworth entitled "Gezicht op een baai bij Yangasa Levu", which translates to "View of a Bay near Yangasa Levu." Editor: It's funny how sepia tones can turn any landscape into an instant memory, real or imagined. It evokes a feeling of tranquil isolation. A bit dreamlike, isn't it? Curator: Very much. This particular work adheres to pictorialism, where photography emulates painting. Looking closely, you can almost feel the craft of developing the print, selecting papers. And what about the colonial context of making these landscape photographs? I wonder who made these materials and what labour made these prints happen? Editor: It’s so true, there’s definitely an intended composition. Woodworth framed this bay so intentionally, and he focused on evoking the sense of light and shadow on water and shore so well. There’s almost a mythical sense in this rendering of landscape! Curator: It's important to note that the reality of “mythical” spaces is bound to labour and exploitation, which of course is related to photographic representation of far-off landscapes like the Fiji Islands. Early photographs helped to build popular visions of landscapes, but at what cost? Editor: I can feel that, this wasn’t *just* about documentation; I see something more subtle. Woodworth captured, really, an imagined serenity. And this serenity speaks a specific language... it hints at something that has nothing to do with labour itself! Curator: Absolutely. These visions are part of cultural consumption which goes hand in hand with the system of labour required to obtain that consumption. This serene bay is not inherently serene; it is made serene. Editor: Maybe that's what I felt all along, though. A serene facade carefully crafted to be consumed. Something about that tension is so captivating to me. Curator: Seeing these older works, knowing what was happening concurrently is crucial to seeing how photography functioned then, and its social context. Editor: Thanks, that brought another layer of perception to this landscape that, at first, seduced my eyes. Now my brain will have something to consider too!