Nubie. Ibsamboul. Entrée du Spéos d'Hathor 1850

Maxime Du Camp made this photograph, Nubie. Ibsamboul. Entrée du Spéos d'Hathor, using the calotype process. This early photographic technique involved coating paper with silver iodide, exposing it in a camera, and then developing the latent image. The resulting print carries an incredible amount of material information. Look closely, and you’ll see the texture of the paper itself subtly surfacing through the image, a quality inherent to the process. Du Camp was commissioned to document Egyptian monuments. This image shows the entrance to the temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel. The monumental scale of the temple is evident, but also the immense labor involved in its construction. The photograph embodies a documentary aesthetic, yet it also highlights the power of the European gaze on ancient cultures, raising questions about colonialism and representation. The act of capturing and presenting these images was itself an assertion of power. This convergence of technology, exploration, and cultural representation underscores the complex relationship between the photographer, the subject, and the viewer.