Woningen aan een park in Purwodadi 1910 - 1928

This photograph, titled "Woningen aan een park in Purwodadi", captures houses near a park in Purwodadi, Indonesia; the artist remains anonymous. This image transports us to a specific place and time, likely during the period of Dutch colonialism. The very act of photographing this landscape speaks volumes about power dynamics. The choice to focus on these houses, the architecture, and the manicured park suggests a gaze that is interested in framing and possessing the land through representation. Who were the inhabitants of these homes? Were they Dutch colonizers, or were they local elites who had adopted a Western lifestyle? The absence of people in the photograph further underscores the colonial project. The land is presented as empty and available for occupation and cultivation. The rows of palm trees, neatly arranged, speak to the imposition of order onto the natural world. In this image, we see a landscape rendered into a symbol of control, a silent testament to a complex history of cultural exchange and exploitation.