Studioportret van Tottie MacPherson met een schepnet c. 1890 - 1910

Editor: Here we have a photograph titled "Studioportret van Tottie MacPherson met een schepnet" – a studio portrait of Tottie MacPherson with a butterfly net, as I understand it. It's credited to Woodbury & Page, around 1890 to 1910. The sepia tone gives it such an antique feeling. What stands out to you about this image? Curator: Well, seeing 'Java' printed on the card alongside the photographers' names is really interesting. It speaks to the globalization of photography in the late 19th century and the kind of materials, and therefore social conditions, required to produce these kinds of images. The labour involved is both local, with Javanese workers employed by the studio, and global, as materials were transported across vast distances. Editor: That's a point I hadn't considered. It makes you think about all the unseen hands involved in creating this single image. So, it's not just a portrait; it’s evidence of a whole network of production? Curator: Precisely. The backdrop, for instance, is clearly artificial, a painted fabrication for a studio in Java trying to suggest an idealised natural landscape. How does the staging affect our interpretation of Tottie’s social standing, her material conditions? Editor: It's almost like she’s performing a role, posed with her butterfly net in this constructed environment. The hat she’s wearing – who made it and from what? Where did the butterfly net come from, and what materials were used? Curator: These elements contribute to the photograph’s constructed nature and provide subtle cues about class, colonialism, and the burgeoning consumer culture of the time. Also, what was involved in developing the photography itself, what technologies? Editor: I guess thinking about the materials and where they came from, as well as who made them, really changes how you look at this portrait. It's not just about Tottie, but about global connections and networks. Thanks! Curator: Indeed! It reveals how much a single photograph can tell us about the social and economic forces at play.