Coronie 1903 - 1910

Curator: Let’s take a look at “Coronie,” a photograph by Hendrik Doijer, likely taken between 1903 and 1910. Editor: Well, right away, I get this sense of...humidity, you know? The heavy air just hangs there, doesn't it? All those drooping palm fronds. Curator: Exactly! Doijer captured a very particular environment, paying close attention to the indigenous materials in the setting. He was really focusing on this intersection of landscape and the people who lived and worked there. It depicts the specific environment, but also likely some sense of life and labor linked to coconut production in that specific place. Editor: There's something about the stark black and white too... it kind of romanticizes the hard labor that must've been involved. I'm imagining workers toiling under that sun, and then this photo almost turns it into a postcard. A rather eerie postcard, admittedly. Curator: That tension is central. We see the photographic techniques employed, such as realism to depict an objective scene of the landscape, and the composition highlights how these photographic methods interact with complex ideas of colonialism. Who is framing the scene? And how does that framing dictate the narrative of a faraway colony for European consumption? Editor: Oof, heavy stuff. And it all stems from these seemingly simple palms, rendered in monochrome. They’re both beautiful and haunting, knowing the context you give. I feel a responsibility in appreciating something beautiful, while at the same time appreciating the labor involved, and the artist's purpose. Curator: It speaks to the power of photography, right? How a single image can condense such complex realities, while simultaneously obscuring aspects through selection and technique. The choice of focusing on trees abstracts all other aspects and perspectives, creating, essentially, tropical orientalism. Editor: A reminder that even the most serene image carries a weight. I leave contemplating our place, our perspective, when it comes to capturing "paradise."