Another trip, another delayed flight. It did give me several extra hours to read the first half of Camera Indica: The Social Life of Indian Photographs. It’s an interesting book, this socio-historical examination of the imperial and indigenous uses of photography in India. Independence is just around the corner; and we’ll see if it starts to discuss “art” photography. So far — in the book, that is — we’ve just seen ethnographic typologies made by the colonial powers and some really nice cartes de visite.
Next up, the Olan Mills of India…
It’s late, so I shan’t stary far, but I see lots of parallels between the paternal racism of 19th century colonial photographers and America’s Edward Curtis and Jacob Riis. Well, more later.