Portret van Harry Johnston before 1891

This is a portrait of Harry Johnston by Elliott and Fry. The photographic firm of Elliott & Fry was based in London and operated from the 1860s to the 1960s. Portraits like these, mass produced and affordable, were a growing industry in Britain at the height of its imperial power. Johnston was himself a key figure in the imperial project, serving as a British administrator in Africa. He was a special commissioner and consul-general for British Central Africa, which later became Nyasaland and is now Malawi. He oversaw the expansion of British control and negotiated treaties with local rulers, often using coercion and military force. He was a proponent of the idea of the "white man's burden," the racist belief that Europeans had a duty to civilize and rule over other parts of the world. Photographs like this, then, need to be understood as embedded in the social and institutional history of empire, not as neutral documents. To understand the context of this image, one might consult government archives and the writings of Johnston himself, taking a critical approach to his self-justifications.