Bonzes de la Pagoda Chinoise (Cholen), Saïgon, Cochinchine 1866

Emile Gsell created this albumen silver print, "Bonzes de la Pagoda Chinoise (Cholen), Saïgon, Cochinchine," capturing a group of monks in Saigon, sometime between 1860 and 1880. Gsell, a French photographer, documented Southeast Asia during a period of French colonial expansion. This work provides a window into the complex cultural interactions of the time. As an outsider, Gsell's perspective is filtered through a colonial lens, influencing what he chose to document and how he portrayed it. The subjects, Buddhist monks, are presented with a formality that emphasizes their otherness, their difference from Western ideals, and their subjugated identities. The photograph serves as a historical record, yet it also prompts questions about representation, power dynamics, and cultural exchange. What does it mean to have one's image captured and disseminated by someone from a colonizing power? And how can we consider the humanity of these individuals beyond the frame of colonialism?