Two South African Khoisan men smoking a pipe 1662

Esaias Boursse made this pen and wash drawing of two South African Khoisan men smoking a pipe in the 17th century. Boursse was employed by the Dutch East India Company, so this image comes to us through a colonial lens. The drawing offers a glimpse into the lives of the Khoisan, one of the oldest ethnic groups in Southern Africa. But the document also speaks to the power dynamics inherent in such an encounter. On the one hand, the act of portraying these men could be seen as a form of recognition, an acknowledgement of their existence and culture. On the other hand, the artist, a representative of a colonial power, is appropriating their image, fixing them within a European gaze, and exoticizing them for a European audience. Consider the men’s expressions, and what they might be thinking. The men in this image are rendered as ‘other,’ framed within the visual language of the colonizer. What happens when we acknowledge the violence inherent in this depiction, yet still search for a moment of shared humanity?