"The Contact Zone": Power relations in visual representation of foreign lands, people and objects

Abstract

Since its origin, photography has had a close relationship with the manner discoveries have been displayed and understood by the Western world. Even if the accessibility to photographs is currently appreciated as a global phenomenon, the study of digital archives and photographic narratives of the other reveals a biased and defective gaze. Based on Marie Luise Pratt’s proposals of the “Contact Zone”, this essay reflects upon the complexities in the representation of foreign lands, people, and objects as a way to understand the historical power relationships embedded in photographic images and archives.