Manure dryers and devil dancers: the British empire’s attempt to use photography to control India

In a new exhibition, the featured images reflect Britain’s attempts to classify and curb the subcontinent’s population, but they also demonstrate the nobility of their subjects – and the futility of the task At first, and without the context, someone looking at this collection of 150-year-old photographs of Indian men and women might think they were looking at compelling portraits. The faces are of individuals with piercing eyes and a striking presence. But context changes everything. The images were taken by British colonialists as part of a great project of photographic ethnography, intended to classify and categorise their subjects. Untitled (Indian family in Singapore), late-19th century, GR Lambert & Co Continue reading...