Kruispunt van de nieuwe met een oude weg 1903 - 1913

This photograph, "Kruispunt van de nieuwe met een oude weg", meaning "Intersection of the new with an old road", shows us an undated scene by an anonymous maker. We see a group of men standing amid tropical foliage on a newly built road, somewhere in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. The visual codes here speak of colonial enterprise: the road cutting through the landscape, the men – some with tools – posed as if to highlight their labour, and the lack of any indigenous presence. Consider the institutional histories at play. Who commissioned this image, and why? Was it intended to promote progress or to document imperial conquest? What does the absence of a known artist signify? The work embodies the power dynamics inherent in colonial representation. To understand the context, one could delve into the archives of colonial companies, missionary societies, and government bodies. The image's meaning is contingent on these layers of social and institutional history.