Java, from the Natives in Costume series (N16), Teofani Issue, for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1886 - 1900

Curator: There's something instantly dreamy about this small print. It feels both exotic and familiar, doesn't it? Editor: "Java, from the Natives in Costume series," was printed sometime between 1886 and 1900 by Allen & Ginter. I’m struck by its origins as a trade card insert in cigarette packs. Talk about commodification of culture. Curator: Well, now that you’ve laid that on us… Though I admit, there is a strangeness knowing it’s an advertisement. The Javanese man is presented almost serenely, his figure dominating this little rectangle. It's lovely and intimate… like peering into another world through a well-worn window. Editor: Absolutely. Allen & Ginter’s focus was less on cultural sensitivity and more on capitalizing on exoticism to sell more cigarettes. The paper stock itself would've been cheap, readily available—and disposable, which heightens the impact and begs us to consider the labor that was poured into even its printing and distribution. Curator: Labor, quite. But I see something beyond just labor and colonial ambitions. The vibrant hues, applied with watercolour or perhaps oil, give his figure a sense of place in the tropics. There’s something romantic in that tropical sun and sand… perhaps a romanticized ideal that had nothing to do with life itself, but the suggestion alone! Editor: It's easy to be swept away by that. Look, even the beach and water in the background—just gestural strokes, really. We can’t ignore the inherent power dynamic embedded in something produced by a cigarette company using "native costume" as the very essence of it as capital. What was given, and what was taken away from this? Curator: I'll grant that looking at it now, understanding its full context, definitely dampens my initial wonder. Still, the figure emanates quiet dignity, even amidst the commercialization. He has this serene acceptance that's utterly mesmerizing. Editor: Well, that's it exactly. Context truly transforms the experience of witnessing even something as apparently ‘simple’ as a portrait on cardstock! Curator: Yes, it becomes so clear that even this ephemeral beauty can offer such a doorway into a time, a place, and sadly... an exploitation, now so evident, that we could never expect from a portrait alone.