Portret van een onbekende vrouw van de Mohana-stam before 1872

This is Henry Charles Baskerville Tanner's photograph of an unknown woman of the Mohana tribe. Though undated, it likely comes from the height of British colonial rule in India. The image is striking in its simplicity, yet it raises complex questions about representation and power. Tanner, a British photographer, captures the woman in a posed studio setting. The balustrade behind her suggests a Western context, immediately framing her within a colonial gaze. What does it mean to "capture" the image of a person from a marginalized community? How does the photographer's background shape the narrative of the portrait? To truly understand this photograph, we must delve into the history of British colonialism, the development of photography as a tool of documentation and control, and the social structures of the Mohana community. Only then can we begin to unpack the layers of meaning embedded within this seemingly straightforward portrait.