Travel, Typology, Technology: Photography and the (Re)Production of Empire

November 3 – December 1, 2008

This exhibition of historical photographic objects developed around a question central to our individual research: what was the role of photography in the creation and maintenance of empire?  We present nineteenth- and early twentieth-century photographs from the Belgian Congo and British colonies in the Middle East as case studies for the ways in which photography galvanized the (re)production of empire through visual images.  In addition, the juxtaposition of photographs from diverse global colonial projects, including the Philippines, Central Asia, and the Caribbean, expose photography as a key technology for disseminating ideologies about race and empire around the world during the colonial period.

Curated by Beth Ann Zinsli and Heather S. Sonntag.

Image:  Bridge, Belgian Congo (ca. 1910)