Attack made by the forts at Jih island and the south-eastern head of Liukung island and the Chinese men-of-war upon the already captured Lukeutsuy forts on the E. coast of Wei-Hai-Wei, and the Japanese army on land Possibly 1895

This photograph, "Attack made by the forts at Jih island and the south-eastern head of Liukung island and the Chinese men-of-war upon the already captured Lukeutsuy forts on the E. coast of Wei-Hai-Wei, and the Japanese army on land", was produced by the Ordnance Survey Office. It depicts a scene from the Sino-Japanese War. Survey photographs like this one, created by a colonial power, were never neutral records, but documents imbued with power, and deployed in service of imperial projects. What do we make of an image that at once seeks to record, and yet is an instrument of war and occupation? This photograph captures a battle, but also a moment of profound historical transformation, marking the decline of one empire and the rise of another. Colonial photography often served to dehumanize its subjects, solidifying power imbalances. But, this image also invites us to reflect on the human cost of conflict, asking us to consider the stories of those whose lives were irrevocably altered by these events.