Bouw van de Hogesluis met het Paleis voor Volksvlijt op de achtergrond, Amsterdam 1883

Albert Greiner captured this photograph of the Hogesluis bridge under construction, with the Paleis voor Volksvlijt in the background, in Amsterdam during the 19th century. The sepia tones are intrinsic to the 19th-century photographic process, where light-sensitive chemicals reacted on paper supports. Note the image’s incredible detail, a testament to Greiner’s mastery of the wet collodion process. Yet, it’s the subject of the photo - the construction itself - that speaks volumes. The bridge, a feat of engineering, is rendered incomplete, a hive of labor. The logs, stacked and ready, hint at the physical effort required. In the background looms the Paleis voor Volksvlijt, a palace dedicated to industry, a symbol of capitalist ambition. Greiner’s photograph, with its focus on the materials and processes of building, reminds us of the often-unseen labor that shapes our world. It invites us to consider the social context of progress, and the hands that make it possible.