Thèbes, Medinet Habou, Galeries du Palais (Palace Galleries at Medinet Habou, Thebes) 1851

This is Maxime Du Camp’s photograph of the Palace Galleries at Medinet Habou in Thebes. It was created as part of a larger project to document Egyptian monuments, a venture that speaks volumes about 19th-century European interest in, and appropriation of, other cultures. Here, the imposing architecture of ancient Egypt is juxtaposed with a lone Western figure, presumably a tourist, whose presence quietly asserts a kind of colonial claim. The photograph captures the Western gaze towards the East, laden with assumptions about power and knowledge. This is further complicated by the very act of photography, a technology then associated with scientific accuracy. Du Camp’s work is more than just documentation; it embodies the complex, and often fraught, relationship between the West and the rest, echoing broader themes of cultural identity and historical narrative. The photograph invites us to consider who gets to tell whose story.