Geld, werpmessen, een halsketting en afgodsbeelden van de Banza 1896

This is a page from a book by Franz Thonner, depicting money, throwing knives, a necklace and idols of the Banza people. The image is a study in contrasts. While the items themselves suggest direct engagement with materials – metalworking to create the knives, carving for the idols, and intricate assembly for the necklace – they are presented here as a flat image, mediated by the printing process. The graphic style is clean and straightforward, intended to document rather than celebrate. The image, in other words, aims for objectivity, yet it’s impossible to ignore the context of its making. Thonner, as a European explorer, would have been observing these objects from a position of power, and their placement in a book flattens their original social meanings. The knives, necklace and idols once had lives of their own; here, they are reduced to specimens. So, while we can appreciate the skills involved in crafting these items, we must also remember the unequal power dynamics inherent in their collection and representation.