Drie foto's van de administrateurswoning te Wanasari en de oogst van kinabast 1910

Here we have three photographs of the administrator's house in Wanasari and the harvesting of cinchona bark, taken around 1910 by Carolina Onnen, or 'Loentje' as she was known. What grabs me about these images is their tonal range, from the sun-drenched administrator's house, to the darker, more mysterious scene of the bark harvest. It’s like a dance between light and shadow. The lower image is particularly striking. You can almost feel the weight of the cinchona bark in the hands of the figures, who are only visible through the dense foliage. I'm reminded of the work of Eugène Atget, who documented the changing face of Paris with a similarly sensitive eye. The way Onnen captures this scene is like a quiet conversation, a form that embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations. The details are all there, but it is down to us to piece it all together.