Portret van een onbekende Kachari man uit Assam before 1868

This is a portrait of an unknown Kachari man from Assam, captured by Benjamin Simpson in the late 19th century. During this period, British colonial administrators and photographers were actively documenting the diverse ethnic groups of India, often through a lens that emphasized racial and cultural differences. Simpson’s photograph, while seemingly a straightforward portrait, is deeply embedded in the power dynamics of the British Empire. The subject, an indigenous man, is presented as an ethnographic specimen, categorized and framed within the colonial project of knowledge production. The gaze is averted, the body still, as if surrendering his image to the colonial gaze. Simpson's work, while contributing to the visual archive of the region, also participated in constructing a narrative of British authority and control. This portrait invites us to reflect on the complexities of representation and the role of photography in shaping perceptions of identity during the colonial era. It reminds us of the human stories behind these images, and the enduring impact of colonial legacies on individual lives and communities.