Loods met velden 1886

Kassian Céphas made this photograph, titled 'Shed with fields', in the Dutch East Indies. Here we see the modern face of colonialism, with fields and a glasshouse under cultivation. The industrial scale and regimented layout speak to the economic exploitation of the land and its people. Céphas, as court photographer in Yogyakarta, was in a unique position to document this changing landscape. But his role was complex. Was he simply recording colonial progress, or subtly critiquing it? We can look at the archives of colonial trading companies, missionary records, and the writings of Indonesian intellectuals. Only then can we begin to understand the full story behind this image. The meaning of this work is not fixed, but is contingent on the social and institutional context in which it was made and received.