Etude de Palmiers, Bords du Nil, Kalabschi 1853 - 1854

John Beasley Greene made this photograph, "Etude de Palmiers, Bords du Nil, Kalabschi," using the waxed paper negative process, in Egypt. Greene was part of a wave of 19th-century European and American photographers who journeyed to Egypt, drawn by its ancient monuments and landscapes. This photograph invites us to consider the dynamics of representation and cultural exchange during a time of increasing colonial expansion. Greene, a Western photographer, captures an Egyptian landscape, framing it through his own cultural lens. How might his perspective differ from that of an Egyptian artist? The photograph also prompts us to reflect on the romanticization of exotic locales, and on the power dynamics inherent in the act of looking and documenting. What does it mean to capture and present a culture or landscape that is not one's own? What stories remain untold or unseen?