Met parang bewerkte man uit Simaloengen 1929

This photograph of a man from Simaloengen, Indonesia, with severe facial injuries was taken at the Batak Institute Hospital in 1929. The clinical gaze contrasts sharply with the man’s obvious suffering, prompting us to question the image’s purpose and impact. The photograph, likely part of a medical record, reflects the colonial context of the Dutch East Indies. Medical institutions played a vital role in maintaining colonial power, and photographs like this would have been used for documentation, research, and perhaps, to reinforce notions of racial and social difference. The Batak Institute Hospital itself would have been a product of both colonial administration and local resistance. Understanding this image requires exploring the history of medicine in colonial Indonesia, the social dynamics between colonizers and colonized, and the power of photography in shaping perceptions of race and health. We might consult colonial archives, medical journals, and studies of visual culture to unpack the complex meanings embedded in this photograph.