Twee portretten van een onbekende man van de Lepcha before 1886

These two portraits of an unknown Lepcha man are part of a larger anthropological study made by Paolo Mantegazza in the late 19th century. Mantegazza, an Italian physician and anthropologist, was interested in the diversity of human appearance, often through a racial lens influenced by the theories circulating during the colonial era. These oval portraits, set against the pages of an album, offer a glimpse into the ways photography was used to document and classify people from different cultures. The Lepcha, indigenous to the Himalayan region, are here presented as objects of scientific curiosity. We can see the ambivalence between scientific investigation and the intimate act of portraiture. These images remind us to critically examine the power dynamics inherent in the history of photography and anthropology. How do these historical representations shape our understanding of identity and cultural difference today?