Portret van een onbekende Lepcha vrouw uit Sikkim before 1868

Curator: Welcome. Here we see an albumen print entitled "Portret van een onbekende Lepcha vrouw uit Sikkim" created before 1868, attributed to Benjamin Simpson. It's a photographic portrait of an unidentified Lepcha woman from Sikkim, a region in the Himalayas. Editor: It’s quite striking. There’s a quiet intensity in her gaze and the oval framing adds a timeless feel, almost like a classical cameo. I’m immediately curious about the print's making. What’s the significance of using the albumen process? Curator: Albumen printing was popular at the time for its fine detail and glossy finish. It involved coating paper with albumen from egg whites, making the fibers highly receptive to light and capturing very sharp images. We should also consider this photographic portrait as a representation of colonial encounters and anthropological documentation. It presents us with considerations about the economics of portraiture, class, and perhaps scientific endeavor during the era. Editor: The cross-strapped tunic she’s wearing feels emblematic too. Perhaps the style carries cultural weight. And her braid and adornments may communicate specific information, maybe status, origins or affiliations within her community. I can't help but feel it is about more than just preserving a likeness; it represents a constructed identity, filtered through both her culture and the photographer's gaze. What values did it hold at the time and how might this diverge from contemporary viewpoints on female strength, heritage and beauty? Curator: Absolutely. And who determined this frame of value is very important. These photographic albums had social lives, so how did this print move through hands and contexts to arrive where we see it now? It raises a series of urgent questions on the processes by which identity and power can be rendered across different media, places and moments. Editor: Seeing her image opens a window to contemplate these broader cultural issues embedded within the portrait, like the dialogue between identity and representation and continuity between cultural forms, even those that diverge across time. Curator: Indeed. Analyzing this piece through process and context, along with the symbolic reading, reveals some historical framework to contemporary topics of value, cultural legacy, and power.