Spoorbrug in Mozambique c. 1886s

Manuel Romão Pereira created this photograph of a bridge in Mozambique sometime in the late 19th century. The image is part of a series documenting the construction of the Lourenço Marques railway, a project of the Portuguese colonial government. During this time, the extraction of resources from African colonies was justified by the supposed benefits of Western progress. While engineering marvels like this railway may seem like symbols of advancement, for many Mozambicans, they represented forced labor, displacement, and the erasure of local cultures. This image does not show us who was impacted by this railway's creation, which is a potent and painful absence. Consider how the photograph's formal qualities—the contrast between the rigid, geometric bridge and the organic, overgrown landscape—might symbolize the tension between colonial ambition and the realities on the ground. While seemingly neutral, this photograph reveals the complicated relationship between progress, power, and the people whose lives were forever changed by these colonial projects.