Spiti, View from Below Manirung Pass c. 1860s

Curator: Here we have Samuel Bourne's "Spiti, View from Below Manirung Pass," an evocative landscape photograph. Editor: It’s quite beautiful, really. Stark, almost monumental in its simplicity. The textures of the rock contrast with the soft, hazy mountains in the distance. Curator: Bourne’s photographs were instrumental in shaping perceptions of the British Empire. He meticulously documented the Indian landscape, offering a romanticized vision of the region during the colonial era. Editor: Romanticized, yes, but let's consider the labour involved in producing this image. Hauling equipment up those mountains, the chemistry, the darkroom work—it speaks to a certain colonial ambition enacted through material processes. Curator: Absolutely, and the image itself became a commodity, distributed and consumed in Britain as a signifier of imperial power and exoticism. Editor: Indeed. It's a landscape loaded with socio-political baggage, rendered through a specific material lens. Curator: A powerful intersection to consider. Editor: Precisely. It's a landscape, a commodity, and a record of colonial endeavor all in one.