Pad door aanplant op Sumatra before 1898

Carl Kleingrothe captured this image, 'Pad door aanplant op Sumatra' (Path through plantation in Sumatra), using photography, a relatively new medium at the time. Kleingrothe was part of the colonizing forces in Indonesia, so we need to consider the image as part of a colonial project. What does it mean to photograph a landscape and call it a plantation? Plantations are, of course, places of forced labor, but here the image is serene. Where are the workers? What is left out of this picture? The choice to focus on a path suggests both a literal and metaphorical journey into the unknown, ripe for exploitation. By obscuring the violence inherent in colonialism, Kleingrothe presents an idealized version of a landscape ripe for the taking. This photograph serves as a visual record of a specific time and place, one that is both beautiful and deeply implicated in the history of exploitation.