Sfinx en de piramides van Chefren en van Mykerinos before 1905

This photograph of the Sphinx and the pyramids of Chephren and Mykerinos was taken by Maison Bonfils. It presents us with a layered view of history, filtered through the lens of 19th-century European Orientalism. The image captures not just the ancient monuments, but also the colonial gaze that sought to document and, in a way, possess these sites. The inclusion of local figures and camels within the frame is as much a part of this narrative as the monuments themselves. It positions them as elements within a landscape, framed for European consumption, subtly reinforcing a dynamic of power and observation. Orientalism, Edward Said famously argued, is a way of seeing that imagines, emphasizes, and distorts differences of Arab peoples and cultures in comparison to that of Europe and the U.S. And this image falls squarely in that tradition, highlighting the power dynamics inherent in the act of representation.