PHOTOGRAPHY IN CHINA AS A DOCUMENTARY OF HISTORY – AN APPROACH OF VISUAL ETHNOGRAPHY, 1842–1860
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55877/cc.vol34.761Keywords:
photography, Milton Miller, Felice Beato, Second Opium War, visual ethnographyAbstract
Since the advent of photography in 1839, the image has become a very important documentary witness. After it reached China during the first Opium War (1839–1842), the world could witness a more authentic representation of its society, culture and history. The present research will focus on analyzing the images of Milton Miller and Felice Beato with the help of Barrett’s Construct for Interpreting Photographs and the three steps to analyse their images: description, reflection, and formal analysis. The results of the present research show that Milton and Beato used different approaches to represent their photo subjects. Milton’s images can be classified as interpretations and aesthetic evaluations. However, Beato’s images are descriptions and explanations. Based on the eyewitness accounts on their personal details and their subjects’ representation in these images, it can be concluded that each of them tried to represent China as truthfully as possible, however; their knowledge about the subjects still presented a deficiency in understanding. In addition, the distance with their subjects and the culture they were a part of represents another important stumbling block for analyzing these images.
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