Demmeni, Kartini and Colonialism

Erasmus Huis Jakarta is exhibiting photos by Jean Demmeni, whose works on the Dutch Indies are popular in Holland.

February 12, 2008

HE may have known Kartini. Look at the picture he has taken: Kartini and her two younger sisters, Rukmini and Kardinah, look relaxed. They are making batik in the yard. They are holding canting, a small copper vessel with a spout for applying melted wax to fabric. They are indeed not smiling and they are not looking at the camera. You can feel, however, that they are not disturbed by the presence of the photographer. The photographer must have be

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