Gezicht op waterwerken bij een kruising van de Ganges met een andere rivier before 1867

This sepia toned photograph captures a constructed barrage where the Ganges meets another river, attributed to Thomas George Glover. The composition is bisected horizontally, with the heavy structure of the barrage and figures in the foreground giving way to the soft expanse of the river and sky. The photograph’s tonal range is constrained, which flattens the scene, emphasizing the geometrical arrangement of the barrage’s components. The repetitive, almost modular design of the waterworks invites a structuralist reading. Here, the barrage functions as a sign, encoding colonial ambitions to control and order nature. The photograph’s structural clarity and careful arrangement serve not just as an engineering record but also as a statement about power and the imposition of human will on the landscape. Its visual structure reflects broader colonial ideologies embedded within its frame.