Portret van een Indonesische man met speer en hoofdtooi 1857 - 1880

This is a portrait of an Indonesian man with spear and headdress, captured in a photograph by Woodbury & Page. This portrait exists within a longer history of colonial encounters where photography was strategically used to document, classify, and represent colonized people. In many ways, the portrait flattens the identity of this Indonesian man. His elaborate headdress and spear may signify important cultural or social roles within his community, yet these details run the risk of being consumed as exotic spectacle divorced from the real man. Consider, for instance, how this image might be used to reinforce Western notions of the “other,” or to justify colonial power dynamics. How might we re-insert agency and dignity into this image, recognizing the individual beyond the frame of colonial representation?