Sf. Redjosarie Brüdenpomp Possibly 1924

Curator: Here we have an untitled still life photograph—catalogued as “Sf. Redjosarie Brüdenpomp"—attributed to an anonymous photographer, possibly from 1924. It’s a gelatin silver print. I find it haunting. A mechanical still life… Curator: Haunting is right. The scale implied is tremendous, judging by the grain of the photograph and the detail captured. I am curious about what kind of gelatin-silver was available in 1924 to represent these industrial components. Curator: It strikes me as almost…dystopian. The sharp lines of the machinery juxtaposed with the soft focus in parts. There’s a clear hierarchy at play too, wouldn't you say? A power dynamic visually expressed. It makes me consider the role of machinery in Indonesian colonial contexts. How technology both extracts and oppresses. Curator: Absolutely. The starkness emphasizes that. I’d love to know the origins of that pump! Consider how essential these pumps must have been and what it says about labor practices and global trade during that period. We are not just talking about machinery; we are engaging with a form of materialized power and its capacity. Curator: And looking at the social dynamics that create conditions of inequality. Someone benefits from that machine. Someone is beholden to it. I feel a tension in this artwork. It’s not merely about form, line and light but it represents relationships, the machinery embodying specific gender and power structures, shaping lives according to specific regimes of labor. Curator: Exactly. It presents as a record of this specific time. How things were produced impacts how labor functions—both physically, creatively, socially, economically, and politically. So, the way it's photographed reveals layers about value and function that must have determined much for someone during this time. Curator: For me, it exposes not just the mechanics of industry but the mechanics of societal control and exploitation—echoes that ripple even to the present day. I read more deeply into what photography is doing, making things available to look, see and engage with from a new perspective, both artistic and personal. Curator: A compelling work. Considering it's a gelatin-silver print really grounds the reality depicted in this artifact. Its reproducibility reveals our historical perspective—it leaves us something valuable about the relationship of materiality, people and things!