ABSTRACT
The debate over photography as art versus “mere documentation” is as old as the medium itself. Raging in Victorian-era photography society meetings in Britain, the debate centered on whether photography was a mechanical process or something that could elevate the mind. In the early twentieth century, the debate gained new steam with the claim that the significance of a photograph was not what was in front of the camera but how the photographer manipulated the image to achieve a personal vision.1 But, if we go back to the beginnings of the medium, what can be discerned about this debate in a colonial context? Specifically, how did the debate manifest in colonial South Asia and to what extent did it impact the development of photography there? These questions are important for understanding both early photographic history in South Asia as well as South Asia’s place in a global history of photography.
