Krater van de vulkaan Bromo, Java, Nederlands-Indië c. 1895 - 1915

Onnes Kurkdjian produced this photograph of the Bromo volcano crater in Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Kurkdjian was an Armenian photographer operating in Java at a time when the Dutch colonial project was being visually documented. The image creates meaning through its stark monochrome palette, emphasizing the raw, geological power of the volcano. Situated in a colony, this imagery would have served to define a sense of geographical scale, of the sublime, of the other. It subtly underscores the power dynamic between colonizer and colonized. Such imagery reinforced a sense of the exotic for European audiences, while also serving the colonial administration's need for documentation. The Dutch East Indies were a complex, multi-layered society, and photographs like these offer a window into understanding the social and institutional conditions that shaped artistic production in that context. Further research into colonial archives, travelogues, and ethnographic studies would shed more light on the cultural meanings embedded in this photograph.