Huis binnen poeri van Tjakra-Negara met soldaten tijdens Lombok-expeditie 1894 before 1898

Editor: This albumen print, taken before 1898 by Christiaan Johan Neeb, depicts the 'Huis binnen poeri van Tjakra-Negara met soldaten tijdens Lombok-expeditie 1894'. It shows a traditional building surrounded by water, soldiers scattered about. I’m struck by the staged, almost performative feel of it. What story do you think this image is trying to tell? Curator: It's crucial to recognize how images like this participated in constructing narratives around colonial encounters. The presence of soldiers alongside this traditional dwelling, identified as being in Lombok, immediately suggests a power dynamic. It documents a specific event – the Lombok expedition. But who is it really for, and what message does it convey? Editor: It feels very much like it's for a Western audience. The careful composition, the very inclusion of the soldiers, is all meant to portray this idea of European power in an exotic setting, right? Curator: Exactly. Consider the term "Orientalism." This photograph fits neatly into that framework, where Southeast Asia is exoticized and its people presented in ways that reinforce Western superiority. The expedition itself was a violent incursion, yet this image attempts to normalize, even sanitize, that act through its composition and controlled presentation. We might ask, how would an artist from Lombok have depicted this same scene? What voices are missing? Editor: So it's not just a snapshot of a place and time, but a carefully crafted piece of colonial propaganda? Curator: Precisely. It invites us to think critically about photography's role in shaping historical perceptions and power structures. Seeing the past not as a series of events but a web of stories carefully constructed. Editor: I never thought about photographs as being so constructed. Now I am considering them with whole new perspective, not as documentation, but as an argument! Curator: Indeed, analyzing art through this lens reveals the complex ways in which power, culture, and representation intertwine.