Untitled (building on stilts) c. 1860 - 1880

Curator: Looking at this photograph, I feel like I'm peering into a sepia-toned memory. It's faded, gentle, almost dreamlike. Editor: Indeed. This small albumen print, whose title is "Untitled (building on stilts)", comes to us from Willoughby Wallace Hooper, a British photographer active in India. Curator: Stilt houses are so striking. They speak to a vulnerability, a negotiation with the land. I wonder about the community surrounding this one. Editor: Hooper's work often framed colonial subjects through a lens of power and observation. It's important to remember that even a seemingly simple image can be laden with the weight of empire. Curator: It's funny how a tiny photograph can feel so expansive, conjuring questions and unsettling histories. Editor: It does invite us to consider the gaze, whose story is being told, and who holds the power to tell it.