Lionel Gauthier

Framing Coloniality: Exotic Photographs in Swiss Albums, Museums, and Public Spaces (1870s–2010s)

Abstract This article examines how displaying colonial photographs determines their meaning. Our study is based on a historical analysis of the social life of a photographic collection made by the Swiss traveler Alfred Bertrand (1856–1924), which was exhibited in different contexts. First, it was shown by the collector himself in his museum and at his lectures. Then, in 2007, it was exhibited in the Geneva Ethnography Museum. Finally, we discuss the problems of mounting an exhibition of the photographs, which we are planning to do in the Parc Bertrand. These three different framings give a colonial meaning (or not) to the photographs, through a series of ideological and curatorial agendas.