Canecutter in bedrijf 1938

This photograph, Canecutter in bedrijf, shows a canecutter in operation, and its anonymous maker probably took it sometime in the early 20th century. Imagine them, focusing on the complex interplay of light and shadow, waiting for the right moment to capture this industrial scene. What might they have been thinking as they framed the shot? It's almost entirely grayscale, and the graininess adds a layer of texture, making you want to reach out and touch it, to understand the labor involved. The composition, with its focus on the machinery, speaks to the changing landscape of work and industry at the time. The metallic parts and the tightly packed sugarcane become almost abstract forms, and I start to think of Bernd and Hilla Becher's photographs of industrial structures or even some of the early modernist photographers. Each with their own perspective, building upon a conversation about representation, abstraction, and the human condition.