Lokale arbeiders in een plantsoen te Padang 1891 - 1912

This photographic print shows workers in a park in Padang by Christiaan Benjamin Nieuwenhuis. What really strikes me here is the stillness, the staged nature of the photograph. I can imagine Nieuwenhuis setting up his camera, carefully composing the scene to capture the workers amidst the verdant landscape. It makes me wonder about his intentions. Was he simply documenting the scene, or was he trying to convey a deeper message about labor, leisure, or the relationship between man and nature? The workers themselves seem posed, almost like actors on a stage. There's a formality to the composition, a sense of order and control that speaks to the colonial context in which it was made. I can't help but think about the power dynamics at play, the gaze of the colonizer upon the colonized. It's a reminder that art is never neutral, it's always shaped by the social, political, and historical forces of its time.