Britse soldaten vullen een lamp met gas bij Slingersfontein in Zuid-Afrika 1900

This stereograph, produced by Underwood & Underwood, shows British soldiers filling a gas lamp during the Boer War in South Africa. Though photography is itself a mechanical process, we can consider the labor involved here, not just of the soldiers, but of the photographers and the distribution networks that brought images like these to a global audience. The very act of documenting this scene transforms it. The lamp itself, likely made of metal and glass, represents industrial production brought to bear on the landscape of war. Stereographs like these were mass-produced, catering to a Victorian desire to see and understand far-off lands and conflicts. They speak to a world rapidly changing through industrialization, communication technologies, and colonial expansion. Ultimately, this image invites us to think about the complex relationship between technology, labor, and representation in the context of imperial conflict.