IIAS Newsletter 44 Summer 2007

Asia's colonial photographies

David Odo

Almost immediately after the invention of photography in 1839, photographers embarked on expeditions throughout the colonial world. Entrepreneurial photographers rushed to locations along the colonial trail across the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, the Pacific, and Asia, to create images of ancient monuments and ‘exotic others’. They created lavish albums of photographs, making available pieces of the periphery for sale in European metropoles. Colonised people and places became the ongoing subjects of the colonial lens.

Download PDF from menu on right to read full article »