Zurich Exhibit Rewrites History, One Colonial Photo at a Time

European colonizers, it turns out, weren't just good at taking land; they were also pretty adept at taking pictures. And as a new exhibition in Zurich reveals, those old photographs did a lot more than just document the landscape. They possessed it, created myths, and simplified entire cultures into convenient narratives.

Now, a new show at Museum Rietberg, "A Kind of Paradise: Colonial-Era Photography in Contemporary Art," is flipping the script. It gathers the work of twenty contemporary artists who are taking those historical images and, well, messing with them. In the best possible way.

Un-Silencing the Past

Brazilian artist Rosana Paulino, one of the featured artists, puts it bluntly: photography shapes memory by deciding what we see and what we deliberately ignore. When images are missing, she notes, it's not an accident; it's a history of erasure. And the only way forward is to rebuild it with fragments, scars, and a healthy dose of active engagement.

This is where the "reconstructive work" comes in. The exhibition is split into four sections, each a different approach to making the silenced speak.

First up, "Shapeshifters." This section highlights how the lack of access to cameras and preservation systems in colonized cultures often led to images stripped of their original context. Artists like Paulino, Dinh Q. Lê, and Cédric Kouamé step in to fill those historical gaps or, at the very least, point out exactly where the void is.

Then there's "Confrontation." Here, artists like Wendy Red Star, Omar Victor Diop, and Yuki Kihara take on the blatant stereotypes baked into early photos of colonized people. They use satire, recontextualization, and a fair bit of artistic jujitsu to turn those images of subjugation into statements of empowerment.

"Care" is the third section, where artists such as Sasha Huber and Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter approach these historical subjects with compassion. They challenge old injustices by redacting, superimposing, or otherwise protecting individuals from the original, often exploitative, gaze of the camera.

Finally, "In the Photo Fantastic" offers a different kind of reclamation. Instead of just filling gaps, artists like Raphaël Barontini and Andrea Chung see the missing parts of the historical record as launchpads for imagination. They don't just reconstruct truth; they weave dreams of possibility around it.

The museum even pulls out its own 19th and 20th-century photos from Asia and Africa, using them as reference points for the artists' interventions. Because, naturally, you can't talk about colonial photography without looking at the actual colonial photography.

A Hopeful Reimagining

Beyond the art, the exhibition is bringing the community into the conversation. Zurich locals were invited to share their own personal photo albums and stories for a project called "Do you remember?" There are also talks and workshops planned, because apparently, looking at old photos can be surprisingly engaging.

While the topic is serious, the message of "A Kind of Paradise" is surprisingly hopeful. Engaging with these images won't erase the injustices of the past, but as photographer Omar Victor Diop notes, it does expose silenced histories and challenge narratives that have dominated for far too long. It keeps awareness alive. And, if we're lucky, helps us imagine a slightly more just world.

"A Kind of Paradise: Colonial-Era Photography in Contemporary Art" is on view at Museum Rietberg in Zurich until September 6. Go see it. Your history books might never look the same.