We Will Civilize those Fellows... with Time 1836 - 1837

This lithograph was made by Auguste Raffet in the 19th century using a painstaking process of drawing on stone. The image shows French soldiers overseeing indigenous porters, burdened with the tools of colonial expansion. What makes the lithograph so striking is its intense labor. Every line, every shadow, is the result of the artist’s hand meticulously working the stone. This kind of labor-intensive production, ironically, allowed for the mass dissemination of imagery, a crucial part of the colonial project. Consider the weight of the stone, and the time taken to produce the print. The contrast between this process and the casual, callous attitude of the soldiers towards their human cargo, is stark. Raffet was critical of colonialism, and this print is an indictment of its dehumanizing effects. It reminds us that even seemingly simple images are the product of complex social and political forces, and that the materials and processes used to create them are never neutral.