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JANUARY 2013 BACK ISSUE
by Tomasz Tomaszewski
Part I
Tomasz Tomaszewski travelled to Java in Indonesia to document sugar production there. He was one of 6
photographers who were commissioned by the Dutch photography organization Noorderlicht to produce "The Sweet
and Sour Story of Sugar." The project examines globalization by looking at the sugar industry in the Netherlands and
its former colonies.
"It was like taking a trip into the past. I found myself surrounded by steam machinery and archaic tools that had been
brought over by Dutch workers 300 years before. Much of it was broken. Workers walked around me inside the
factory barefoot. There were no safety clothes and I was able to walk freely, never once being told I couldn't take
photographs.
"Despite the chaos of old machinery and the sticky and humid temperatures of more than 100 degrees, sugar
production at the factory went unimpeded. It was a good lesson for me to remember. Never judge something by the
way it looks."
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