Badende kinderen in een water in Nederlands-Indië 1912

Editor: We're looking at "Bathing Children in a Water in Dutch-Indies," a gelatin silver print taken by Onnes Kurkdjian in 1912. I'm struck by the sharp contrast and how the composition directs your eye from the children wading in the water to the lush, dense landscape behind them. What does this photograph say to you? Curator: The photograph is an excellent example of the colonial gaze, popular during that era. It participates in the broader visual culture used to construct and maintain power dynamics within Dutch-Indies. It’s worth considering the power structures inherent in who is taking the photograph and who is being photographed, no? Editor: So, beyond just being a picture of children swimming, it’s tied to colonialism? Curator: Precisely. Kurkdjian, a European photographer, is capturing what he considers an exotic, picturesque scene of the “Orient.” Note how their activity seems spontaneous, unposed – giving the photograph the illusion of capturing something 'authentic'. These representations reinforced stereotypes about the region. Consider how photographs like these might have been used in Europe, or how the artist displayed and presented the work. Who was the intended audience? Editor: That’s fascinating. It shifts my perspective. I guess I was initially just seeing a kind of documentary scene. Curator: Think about the politics of imagery in colonial contexts. Were indigenous photographers also documenting Dutch society? Whose stories are told and preserved? By whom, and for whom? Editor: This makes me reconsider the entire way I approach historical photography. There's so much more going on beneath the surface! Curator: Indeed. Seeing the photograph not just as an isolated artwork, but as a participant in the wider, often unequal, exchange of cultural ideas at that time, is critical to the task of historical examination.