Planten van rijst op een sawah, voormalig Nederlands-Indië c. 1890 - 1910

This photograph of rice planting in a paddy field in the former Dutch East Indies was captured by Onnes Kurkdjian. It's printed on paper, of course, but the key material here is water – the absolute necessity for rice cultivation. We see laborers, likely working under the plantation system, carefully tending to the submerged crops. Look at how their bodies are bent in unison, and the way the water reflects the sky, creating a kind of mirrored surface. Photography, as a process, comes into play as well. The photograph flattens and distills the labor and social context of rice production into a single image. The very act of photography implies a distance between the photographer and the people he's documenting. It is one thing to make an image of people working, and quite another to share in the work. Consider the image as more than just a pretty scene. Think of it as a lens through which we can examine the intertwined histories of labor, colonialism, and representation.