Portret van een soldaat in het tweede Baloch regiment before 1872

Henry Charles Baskerville Tanner made this albumen print, "Portret van een soldaat in het tweede Baloch regiment," at an unknown date. In the 19th century, photography offered new ways of portraying people, yet it was also a technology deeply entwined with colonial power. The albumen process, which uses egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper, was common at the time, but it also involved lengthy exposure times. This impacted the way the subject would have been directed, posed and the level of participation they might have had in the process. The sharp details of the soldier's uniform and the table beside him contrast with his blurred facial features. It's a reminder of the medium's limitations, but also of the power dynamics at play – of who had the privilege of clear representation, and whose identity was partially obscured, even erased. Considering photography as a material practice encourages us to look beyond the image itself, and to think critically about the social and political context in which it was made.