Traces of India Photography, Architecture and the Politics of Representation 1850-1900 Maria Antonella Pelizzari

This interdisciplinary text investigates the roles played by representations of Indian architecture made between the late-19th century and the present day. It discusses how photographs can be read not just as records of an architectural past but as complex artefacts of the cultural and political forces shaping colonial India. The diverse contributors, from post-colonial theorists to museum curators, examine the connections between photography and architecture through the visual culture of colonialism. The volume explores subjects ranging from representations of landmarks of India from picturesque views to travel mementos, photographs as memorials of historical events, and contemporary popular images. Illustrated with some 180 photographs, many rare or little known, the work seeks to offer a fresh view of colonial images as seen through postcolonial eyes. It also includes an extensive bibliography of literature of 19th-century photography in South Asia.

Maria Antonella Pelizzari is associate curator, Photographs Collection, Canadian Centre for Architecture.