Lokale arbeiders en een Europeaan bij de aanleg van een tunnel in de buurt van Sawahlunto 1891 - 1912

This is a black and white photograph by Christiaan Benjamin Nieuwenhuis of local workers and a European man working on a tunnel near Sawahlunto. I look at the image, and I imagine the photographer composing this picture. Framing the labourers emerging from the tunnel’s darkness into the stark light. I wonder, did he feel conflicted about the colonial project? Was he caught between progress and exploitation? It’s interesting how the workers and the European man stand together at the tunnel entrance. A space where the inside and outside worlds meet, a place of transformation. The tracks disappear into the blackness, hinting at something more profound, an opening into the unknown, or maybe just the relentless, backbreaking work of the tunnel builders. That single figure walking away into the forest – is he leaving or just going deeper into the woods? It’s a beautiful, complex picture, both revealing and concealing.