#colonial-photography

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Arts
fromHyperallergic
5 hours ago

Art Movements: Meet The Met's New Photography Curator

Oluremi C. Onabanjo is appointed curator of photographs at The Met, enhancing representation of African and Black diasporic histories.
fromOpen Culture
1 day ago

Explore 1,000,000 Digitized Artworks from Across the UK: Paintings, Sculptures, Street Art & More

Art UK has taken it as its mission to digitally unite one million artworks from 3,500 institutions. This free-to-all portal connects everyone with the UK's public art collections.
London
#photography
Photography
fromdesignyoutrust.com
2 months ago

Unique Vintage Photo Portraits of the Sami People by Roche/Bonaparte From the 19th Century

A diverse range of striking photographic projects and award-winning images spans space, portraiture, historical archives, festivals, experimental art, and documentary photography.
Photography
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

24 photography exhibition 2026 in pictures

A collective of 24 photographers documents New Year's Day across 24 years, each assigned a shifting hourly slot, presented in a 24-day Soho Square exhibition.
Photography
fromwww.theguardian.com
5 days ago

Occasionally a picture can change the course of history': 33 scandalous photos that shocked the world

Photographs possess the power to reveal truths and alter perceptions, often linking public figures to scandals in ways that words cannot.
Fashion & style
fromI Love Typography Ltd
6 days ago

A Brief History of the Dust Jacket - I Love Typography Ltd

Dust jackets evolved from protective covers to marketing tools, first appearing in the 1760s and gaining popularity in the 1920s with advances in color printing.
Brooklyn
fromTime Out New York
2 weeks ago

The Brooklyn Museum is creating new permanent galleries for its renowned African art collections

The Brooklyn Museum is renovating its Arts of Africa galleries to create a permanent exhibition space connecting it with the Ancient Egyptian collection.
Arts
fromMy Modern Met
2 days ago

The Brooklyn Museum's African Art Collection Is About To Get a Major Upgrade

The Brooklyn Museum is renovating to enhance its African art collection display with a $13 million gallery emphasizing a decolonial approach.
Photography
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 weeks ago

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

British colonialists used photography between 1855-1920 to classify and categorize Indian people as ethnic types, advancing imperial control rather than celebrating individuals.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 week ago

Woman With Her Back to the Viewer in Gallery Photos Speaks Out

The Woman With Her Back to the Viewer embodies a modern-day Rückenfigur, revealing her unique role in the art world and personal routine.
Photography
fromAnOther
2 weeks ago

Collier Schorr's New Exhibition Is a Celebration of Queer Artists

Collier Schorr's work explores the relationship between self and subject through various mediums, emphasizing personal connections and the nature of problems.
Brooklyn
fromBrooklyn Paper
4 weeks ago

'Printing Black America' examines modern society through a historic lens at the Brooklyn Public Library * Brooklyn Paper

W.E.B. Du Bois's 1900 Data Portraits visualized Black American progress through infographics, now recontextualized in a 21st-century exhibition exploring ongoing racial inequities and sociological questions.
fromThe New Yorker
1 month ago

A Nineteenth-Century Countess's Sultry Selfies

The nineteenth-century Italian aristocrat Virginia Oldoini, Countess de Castiglione, has been cast in many lights: narcissist, courtesan, spy, exhibitionist. In the photo studio of Mayer & Pierson, she played all these parts and one more-the role of self-portraitist. For decades, Oldoini helped conceptualize and starred in more than four hundred portraits so experimental and expressive that they have drawn comparisons to works by Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman.
Paris food
fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
4 weeks ago

Mummies and other human remains held in UK museums raise serious ethical questions, warn scholars

The significant number of ancestors held in UK museums is extremely distressing and symbolic of the colonial origins of these collections. We hope that the responses gathered by The Guardian will be shared with the relevant communities to support them in bringing their ancestors home.
London
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

Newly Discovered Document Confirms a 'Legendary' African King - Medievalists.net

An Arabic document from Old Dongola confirms King Qashqash's historical existence and reveals how Nubian rulers exercised power through coordinated gift exchanges with subordinates and merchants.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 week ago

UK Museums Hold Over 260,000 Human Remains, Report Finds

UK museums hold over 263,000 human remains, with significant collections from former British colonies, raising ethical concerns.
Photography
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 weeks ago

Negatives are photographic truths': the collector who fled Russia with a haul of second world war images

A photojournalist collects 35,000 World War II negatives to preserve authentic, undistorted historical documentation of the war from multiple nations.
History
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Furious row erupts over Madrid site of one of Robert Capa's most important pictures

Madrid's conservative city council abandoned plans for a Robert Capa museum at a historically significant bombing site, instead converting it into a youth center with minimal historical commemoration.
fromApaonline
1 month ago

Recently Published Book Spotlight: Anticolonialism, Ontology, and Semiotics: A Cinematic Exploration

Anticolonialism, Ontology, and Semiotics draws upon Africana anticolonial philosophy-especially the work of Frantz Fanon and two of his most influential interpreters, Eldridge Cleaver and Sylvia Wynter-to develop a basic analytical model for doing anticolonial political theory. I wanted to show that there is something distinctive, something special, to be found in this tradition of thought that has not been fully appreciated by philosophers and theorists in other fields.
Philosophy
London
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Vast scale of overseas human remains held in UK museums decried by MPs and experts

UK museums hold over 263,000 human remains from around the world, with 37,000 known to originate from overseas former colonies, representing a colonial legacy that many consider sacrilegious and shameful.
fromwww.aljazeera.com
1 month ago

Behind the myths of the British Empire: Nigel Biggar and Mehdi Hasan

Britain once ruled over the largest empire in history. For many Britons, it remains a source of pride. Others argue its power was built on a legacy of brutality, colonial conquest and the enslavement of millions. Can Britain reckon with that past and make amends?
UK politics
#british-museum
fromArtnet News
3 weeks ago

Magnum Gallery Honors the Life and Legacy of Photographer Martin Parr

His humor, his clarity, and his vision shaped many discussions across the agency and within the wider photographic world. This exhibition pays homage to the unique vision of Martin Parr, whose sharp eye for contemporary society and prominent role within Magnum Photos have left an enduring mark on photography.
Arts
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Ways to Traverse a Territory review documenting an ancient and disappearing way of life

Here dwells the indigenous Tzotzil community which has kept a pastoral way of life against the march of time. Apart from the odd forest ranger and passerby, Ruvalcaba's film focuses almost entirely on the Tzotzil women. Together, they tend herds of sheep which they still shear by hand, and use traditional tools for spinning yarns and natural dye for fabrics.
Film
Arts
fromHyperallergic
3 weeks ago

German Hypocrisy and Egyptian Blue

German political hypocrisy in the art world includes a Berlin journal using feminism and anti-racism rhetoric to weaponize liberal ideals against Palestinians, while looting devastates Sudan's National Museum and Egyptian blue pigment costs are studied at Pompeii.
Science
fromNature
1 month ago

From Victorian voyages to vanishing maps: Books in brief

Historical expeditions and proxy records reveal long-term Earth and ocean processes essential for understanding and addressing contemporary climate and environmental challenges.
World news
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Photographers documented the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Ramadan in Gaza, Russian airstrikes in Odesa, and severe flooding in France.
Business
fromFast Company
2 months ago

Navigating the ghosts of cultures past

Organizational culture constantly changes; leaders must discern which legacy cultural elements to retain and which to remove while balancing enduring beliefs with adaptive practices.
History
fromSmithsonian Magazine
1 month ago

How to Fit 250 Years of American History and Culture Into One Map

Smithsonian magazine celebrates America's 250th birthday with an interactive map featuring 250 notable places across ten categories, while historians contextualize this anniversary amid current domestic challenges.
Photography
fromBerlin Art Link
1 month ago

Review of Graciela Iturbide at C/O Berlin | Berlin Art Link

Graciela Iturbide's retrospective explores how myth, death, and indigenous Mexican cultural practices shape her photographic vision of life's duality.
World news
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Global photojournalists documented ICE operations, Russian airstrikes, protests in Greenland and Sakhnin, and the Africa Cup of Nations final in Rabat last week.
US politics
fromAxios
1 month ago

Court fight over slavery exhibit tests how America tells its 250th story

A federal judge denied an emergency stay, allowing restoration of slavery exhibits at the President's House, citing the public interest in historically accurate information.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Stirring the Melting Pot: capturing the New York immigrant experience in pictures

A new exhibition at the New York Historical museum looks at the immigrant experience in New York City through a range of revealing and diverse viewpoints, with more than 100 photographs and objects showing how the city has been shaped by people from across the globe.
New York City
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

My favourite family photo: This is a happy picture and also saturated in grief'

I remember the moment this photo was taken: five years ago, on my partner Claire's birthday, in a National Trust for Scotland garden six miles east of Edinburgh. We were standing on a wooden deck, an ideal spot for pond-dipping with the kids and a lesser-known viewing platform for trainspotters. This is where my autistic son, then six, loved (and still loves) to jump in tandem with the ScotRail trains toggling back and forth in the middle distance.
Parenting
Agriculture
fromAnimals Around The Globe
1 month ago

Why 19th-Century Farmers Painted Their Animals Larger Than Life

Nineteenth-century farmers used exaggerated livestock paintings as visual marketing to signal abundance, prestige, and profitability at agricultural fairs.
fromBuzzFeed
1 month ago

50 Historical Photos That Are So Shocking, They're Changing My Perception Of The Entire World

I recently gained a new obsession, and I'm ready to share it with the world: finding and analyzing rare vintage images. A picture speaks a thousand words, and these photographs tell us more about history than a textbook chapter ever could. So even if you think history is boring, I'm well-equipped to change your mind, and give you some delicious food for your brain to chew on today.
History
fromwww.aljazeera.com
2 months ago

Europe cannot condemn colonialism a la carte

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared before the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland the annual Alpine gathering of the global elite to declare that now is not a time for new imperialism or new colonialism. This, of course, was a reference to the current ambitions of Macron's counterpart in the United States, Donald Trump, who, in addition to recently kidnapping the president of Venezuela and repeatedly threatening to seize the Panama Canal,
Miscellaneous
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The week around the world in 20 pictures

The brutal crackdown in Iran, ICE in Minneapolis, Russian aistrikes in Kyiv and heavy rain in Gaza the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists
World news
Philosophy
fromAeon
2 months ago

Lessons in pluralism from a 17th-century African town | Aeon Essays

Crispina Peres, a powerful 17th-century Cacheu trader of mixed African-European heritage, was prosecuted by the Inquisition for blending African healing practices with Catholicism.
US politics
fromwww.independent.co.uk
2 months ago

Inside the hunt for British Museum's missing treasures

The Independent funds on-the-ground, paywall-free investigative reporting while a six-person British Museum team celebrates breakthroughs in tracing missing Greek and Roman treasures with a golden bell.
Parenting
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

My favourite family photo: I can still feel my mother's arm around my shoulder'

A grandmother's devoted presence eased postpartum exhaustion and sustained new parents through practical, emotional, and constant support during the newborn's first year.
Arts
fromColossal
1 month ago

Tshepiso Moropa Splices Setswana Folklore and Dreams into Archival Collages

Tshepiso Moropa creates collages from personal and archival images that explore African oral histories, Setswana lore, and dreams through minimal compositions grounded in psychology and linguistics.
World news
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Nicolas Maduro seized and handcuffed in Manhattan; Russian drone strikes hit Kyiv; anti-ICE protests erupted in Minneapolis; Storm Goretti battered Britain.
World news
fromPrx
1 month ago

The World

Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years; Milan Cortina bans PFAS ski wax; Sanae Takaichi won snap election; Albania reviews 45 years of Hoxha films.
History
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Sweet thing: a personal look at a photographer's Cuban slavery heritage photo essay

Reconstructing ancestry disrupted by the transatlantic slave trade uses personal and archival materials and sugar as a motif to reclaim a fragmented family history.
History
fromianVisits
2 months ago

Not the good guys: Exhibition confronts Britain's colonial wars

Colonial Britain used counter-insurgency, population control, and covert tactics in Kenya, Malaysia, and Cyprus to retain control, causing civil wars and concealed abuses.
fromSmithsonian Magazine
2 months ago

The British Crown Enslaved Thousands at the Height of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. New Research Reveals Their Stories

On August 7, 1823, 19 enslaved people in Barbados became the property of the British crown after their enslavers died without legal heirs. These individuals had names, families and histories that stretched across years of shared survival under slavery. They included Quow and his son, Caesar; Orange and her son, October; and Abel and Lubbah and their children, Thomas, Kitty and Becky.
Photography
fromThe New Yorker
2 months ago

Photographs of Mali on the Cusp of Independence

Seydou Keïta's studio portraits juxtapose ornate subjects with visible Malian soil, conveying place, identity, and a society undergoing transformation.
fromianVisits
2 months ago

'Blimey, never knew that': the British Museum's Hawai'i exhibition surprises

Candidly, most people visiting the British Museum's Hawaii exhibition probably walk in with a lot of stereotypical preconceptions about the island nation. And will walk out with a totally different understanding of it. Understandably, we probably think of it as not much more than the Pacific island nation that's part of the USA, home to Pearl Harbour and the long-running TV show Hawaii 5.0.
History
fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
1 month ago

New York Historical receives gift of 150 works by Indigenous artists

"I rarely use the term collecting and collector," Hsu-Tang says. "We both see ourselves as messengers... I don't own these works of art. I'm here to be a temporary steward of these messages, and to pass on-it's my duty to connect the past, the present and the future."
Arts
History
fromSmithsonian Magazine
2 months ago

How White Southerners Distorted the History of Ancient Egypt to Justify Slavery in the U.S.

Distorted images of ancient Egypt were used by 19th-century Americans to justify slavery or to symbolize bondage and liberation, shaping racial and national debates.
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

The African Diaspora Pictures Itself

Walking through Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imaginationat the Museum of Modern Art, I noticed that the exhibition didn't have definite sections or texts, and the wall labels abstained from naming the nationalities of the photographers. It was an invigorating experience to be in a show that eschews geographic boundaries set up by Western nations, as well as rejects a cause-and-effect narrative that centers Western colonialism as a framework for understanding African aesthetic production.
Arts
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

The Story of WWI in 50 Images

The First World War transformed warfare through global mechanised conflict, widespread civilian impact, and immense human suffering from Sarajevo's assassination to the Paris Peace Conference.
Photography
fromianVisits
2 months ago

Forgotten Mughal Banaras revealed in free London photo exhibition

Photographs reveal Banaras's overlooked Mughal heritage, everyday life, and marginalized Muslim sites threatened by contemporary Hindu nationalist pressures.
History
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

The Power of Private Museums

Belzoni, Mississippi, known as the 'Catfish Capital', was the site of a civil‑rights‑era lynching of Reverend George Lee after he registered Black voters.
Photography
fromwww.7x7.com
2 months ago

Locals We Love: Documentary photographer Ashima Yadava democratizes art through collaboration.

Ashima Yadava returned portraits to photographed families so they could alter and annotate images, enabling participatory reclamation of pandemic-era visual narratives.
fromHyperallergic
1 month ago

How White Elites Drained Ancient Art of Its Color

In the autumn of 2022, Max and I walked up the iconic steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to visit Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color. As the young son of a professional classicist, and a burgeoning one himself, my museum partner already knew about the ancient history of painted statues when we began to explore the galleries. Max's knowledge seemed the exception rather than the rule.
Arts
Photography
fromItsnicethat
1 month ago

Rhythm, roots and revolution: Jennie Baptiste on capturing Black culture through photography

Jennie Baptiste combines a background in dance and performance with sensitive music photography that explores identity, mental health, and Black music culture.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

Uman's Diasporic Abstraction

Uman's work evokes floating, mutable memories that bridge a lost homeland and the imagined labor of dreaming it back into existence.
Arts
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

The Secrets of Indigenous Art

Modern European and American modernists drew heavily from Indigenous arts, while museums long framed Indigenous adoption of Western forms as a loss of authenticity.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

When Artists Lose Their Archives

An artist lost a storage unit and later discovered parts of their work were sold online without notification, stripping authorship and meaning.
fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
1 month ago

When it comes to restitution, how can museums solve a problem like inalienability?

When Thomas Jefferson wrote about the "inalienable" rights of man in the US Declaration of Independence 250 years ago, it's possible he lifted the term from the French. And long before it was ever used as an adjective to describe human rights, it defined royal property. To this day, "inalienability" remains a cornerstone of public collections in France-and many other countries-impacting museums and their ability to deaccession, including for purposes of restitution.
Arts
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

A Video Game Lets You Take Back Looted Artifacts

A South African indie studio created Relooted, a heist game where players recover African artifacts from Western museums, reframing play, memory, and restitution.
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