Europeanen poseren bij een omgekapte boom bij de aanleg van een weg door het oerwoud in Redagei, Sumatra c. 1890 - 1900

Curator: This gelatin-silver print, taken circa 1890-1900 by Heinrich Ernst & Co., is titled "Europeans posing by a felled tree during the construction of a road through the jungle in Redangei, Sumatra". It’s currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. What are your first thoughts? Editor: A feeling of disruption, certainly. That sharp, barren road cut violently through the thick jungle. The Europeans in their pristine white attire look so out of place, a symbol of forced order on nature’s chaos. Curator: Precisely. The composition reveals so much about colonial impact. Note how the felled tree acts as a visual barrier, highlighting the labor involved in extracting resources and imposing infrastructure. The print material itself—gelatin silver—indicates industrial processes reshaping artistic production as well. Editor: I’m struck by the felled tree in that context – the toppling of what I can only imagine the Sumatran’s might see as sacred, representative of natural stability. It creates a deep tension between the visual ideals of "progress" and the loss of cultural significance tied to that natural world. Curator: Exactly! The photographic medium itself contributes to this dynamic. Mass production and distribution made images like these powerful tools for shaping public perception and justifying colonial expansion. Who holds the camera, directs the composition, owns the means to make meaning from what is shown here. Editor: And the figures posing! It reinforces that visual propaganda – a self-congratulatory assertion of dominance, that echoes the narratives around empire and civilization, even in such a simple composition. This photograph as more than a document, is the Europeans idea of victory. Curator: Well put! I see now how both the concrete road and the ethereal photograph participate in shaping colonial authority. Thank you. Editor: Thank you, those thoughts on materiality give me so much more context to read the cultural elements from.