Portret van Mir Futteh Khan, Mir Emam Bukhsh en Mir Thora Khan before 1872

Henry Charles Baskerville Tanner created this albumen silver print, titled “Portret van Mir Futteh Khan, Mir Emam Bukhsh en Mir Thora Khan.” The print depicts three members of the Talpur Mir family, who were pivotal in the Sindh region’s history, especially during British colonial rule. The British interest in Sindh was primarily strategic, viewing it as a key area for trade routes and military positioning. The Talpur rulers, of which these men were a part, faced increasing pressure from the British East India Company throughout the 19th century. This photograph thus becomes a poignant visual record, capturing the likenesses of individuals at the center of a shifting geopolitical landscape. The sitters are dressed in ceremonial attire, yet the sepia tones of the photograph evoke a sense of distance, both temporal and cultural. Do the subjects of the photograph feel this shift in power, a sense of their world changing irrevocably? The photograph provides a window into a world on the cusp of transformation, viewed through the aesthetic and political lens of the colonial gaze.