Looking down the Khyber Pass from Ali Masjíd before 1895

Frederick Saint John Gore captured this image, "Looking down the Khyber Pass from Ali Masjíd," as part of his documentation of British India. The photograph offers a landscape view of a strategically vital mountain pass. Seen through the eyes of a British officer, the image serves as a visual tool for colonial administration and military intelligence, reducing a complex terrain and its inhabitants to a matter of strategic oversight. It’s a view that inherently reflects the power dynamics of the British Empire, framing the land and its people as subjects of imperial scrutiny. The pass itself has been a path of trade and invasion, witnessing countless crossings and conflicts. Gore's photograph invites us to reflect on how landscapes are never neutral, but are always imbued with layers of history, power, and human experience.