In Kerala’s colonial photography archives, people gaze back at us – some named, categorized, but many left entirely unrecorded. These photographs from British-era Kerala capture moments of stillness: people working, posing, witnessing. But…
Have archival photographs ever looked back at you? Dragged you into its frames? Made you pause not just to see, but to feel, to guess, to remember, or to imagine? There is a strange alchemy when one is looking at colonial photographs. A…
In 1877, when Queen Victoria (r. 1837–1901) assumed the title of Kaisar-i-Hind, British officials sought to monumentalize her as a figure of peace and imperial stability. In India, however, her image emerged as a divine sovereign across…
You’ve tapped a link and arrived here. As you scroll, words and images unfold, perhaps you zoom in, linger or pause at something that catches your eye. Through these subtle gestures, an emotional response arises, and you begin to wonder.…
Record collectors, like archaeologists love to dig! And just as archaeological finds reveal the context of a civilisation, album art offers visual clues to what a record sounds like. While album artworks reflected their music genres, they…
In George Orwell’s essay Shooting an Elephant (1936), the narrator, a colonial police officer in Burma, describes the chaos caused by a tame elephant that has gone “must,” its mahout twelve hours away in the wrong direction. The incident…
What’s your go to method when you want to see what a place looks like before you visit? Do you use google maps & street view? Scroll through your favourite social media platform or Wikimedia? Or do you prefer the surprise of seeing…
The homegrown record label, ‘Young India’ shaped the subcontinent’s sound recording industry at a pivotal moment in cultural history. Recording technology transformed the once-ephemeral nature of sound into tangible discs. Sound, in all…
British photographer Samuel Bourne is celebrated for both his technical skills as well as his ‘adventurous outlook in seeking out suitably picturesque views to record’. Much of his successful commercial career was forged in India through…
What can you learn from a book you can’t read? Sanskrit manuscripts, admired for their philosophical insights are also extraordinary visual objects. In this visual reading of manuscripts from the collections at Cambridge University Library…
Colonial photographs of Kerala, today, when shared online, often evoke nostalgia. During the early 20th century, British officials created images that offer more than just picturesque glimpses of the past. The photos, bound into notebooks,…
T.K. Padmini was a remarkable artist from Kerala whose body of work (created in the 1950s-60s), revealed extraordinary talent before her untimely death at just 28. R. Siva Kumar first encountered her paintings in 1973, when he was still a…
“Despite the visual veneration of the Ayah and romanticization of the ayah-child bond, the images, as this essay shows, served as tools of empire. The sentimental images of ayahs ultimately upheld British colonial hierarchies and…
This year, DAG’s City as a Museum program has travelled to Mumbai. This unique, and inspiring festival highlights a city’s artistic traditions and narratives through guided tours, discussions, concerts and workshops – while connecting to…
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (RAS), founded in 1823, has long served as a hub for scholarly exchange and public engagement with the histories and cultures of Asia. Today, it continues as a learned society with…
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The Heritage Lab and Wikimedia UK are teaming up for the Open Knowledge fellowship in 2025. Through this very exciting collaboration, we hope to bring fresh perspectives, and uncover untold stories related to South Asian collections housed…
The Humayun’s Tomb Museum in New Delhi opened to visitors in August 2024. It has since been tagged as “Delhi’s best museum”, becoming a visitor favourite in a short span of time. The Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site,…
History is a tapestry woven with choices—some deliberate, some inevitable. As part of the #CulturalxCollabs project by the Museum for Islamic Art (SMB Berlin), I received a fragment of a carpet that mirrors the famous 17th century Dragon…
The North Block of the Secretariat building in New Delhi, is the hub of India’s central government administration. There has been considerable interest in its architectural legacy but today we turn to its interiors. Inside the North block,…
Zoomable Paintings with Annotations Annotation 1 (Image 1):Women at the Ghats Annotation 2 (Image 1):Notice the trees here. Annotation 1 (Image 2):Jahangir holding a globe. Annotation 2 (Image 2):Look at the background patterns.
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