The Portrait of the Colonial Artist in Sri Lanka
Encounters, Negotiations and Contestations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 18952453 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kanchanakesi Warnapala (0000-0002-2699-4918, Open University of Sri Lanka, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 169-184 |
| Publication date | 2012-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Interventions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-801X • E-ISSN: 1469-929X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1369801x.2012.687895 |
| OpenAlex | W1827502183 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
Recognizing that colonial conflicts and contradictions were expressed and negotiated through visual imagery, I contend that visual representations of Ceylon are a contentious site, providing a way to theorize differential gazes as differential articulations of power, which intersect and interact in Ceylon. As such, I approach these competing spaces in colonial representation through Julia Margaret Cameron's photograph of Marianne North in Ceylon. Using the theory of focalization by Mieke Bal, I reveal how Cameron's photograph proposes a variety of positions for the viewer to gauge the interaction between the colonial artist and the model, providing an opportunity to uncover a plurality of sights/sites, producing Ceylon as heterogeneous. The print seems hardly incidental to the construction of Ceylon. Discarding tired and benign stereotypes of Ceylon, Cameron's image can be read as one which blocks ‘picturesque’ perceptions by recasting Ceylon as a dynamic site of gendered and racial interaction, a space which manipulates the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized, challenging the specular economy of the gaze
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Ceylon · Colonialism · Geography · Political science · Politics · Portrait · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · History · Law · South Asian Cinema and Culture
| Highly cited | No |
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