Indonesische jongen bij koets met paard 1867 - 1880

Editor: This albumen print, "Indonesische jongen bij koets met paard," made by G.R. Lambert & Co. between 1867 and 1880, depicts an Indonesian boy next to a horse-drawn carriage. The details captured are impressive, and it has an ethnographic feel to it. How should we look at this piece? Curator: I think we must see this photograph as a product of its time, intrinsically linked to the social and economic systems in place during its creation. An albumen print itself relies on specific industrial processes, involving egg whites and silver nitrate. Think about the labor involved in each step of producing not only the print, but also the carriage, the clothes of the boy and the horse’s harness. Where do all of those resources come from? Editor: So, rather than focusing on the picturesque scene, we should be considering the labor and materials? Curator: Precisely! How did colonial structures facilitate the extraction of these raw materials? Who benefited from the manufacturing processes, and whose labor was exploited? What is the photograph itself documenting; and how does it create an image that benefitted colonizers. The very act of photographing reflects a power dynamic. Editor: That definitely shifts my perspective. I hadn’t considered the layers of production and their connections to colonialism. It changes the narrative of the image. Curator: It’s crucial to see the art not just as an aesthetic object, but as a material manifestation of historical forces. Now, does the 'Orientalist' lens affect the photographic process here as well? How do you think? Editor: Thinking about that helps me realize that it does—the composition might exoticize the scene and portray the Indonesian boy in a certain light for Western consumption. Thanks for elaborating that! Curator: It all points back to production, consumption, and power.