Past and present connect in Rijksmuseum exhibition on photography from the Indian subcontinent
Publication date: 21 May 2025 - 08:35
This summer the Rijksmuseum’s photography gallery presents Crossings, an exhibition of photographs from the Indian subcontinent. It presents 19th-century British colonial photography in dialogue with contemporary work by French-Sri Lankan photographer Vasantha Yogananthan. The show is an outcome of a two-year research project that studied the Rijksmuseum’s collection of British colonial photography in detail for the first time. It involved the identification, cataloguing and description of some 1200 photographs. The exhibition presents a selection of these images alongside the work of Yogananthan, who, more than a century after the photographs were taken, explored his own background in the same region. Crossings. Photography from the Indian Subcontinent runs from 4 July to 12 October 2025 at the Rijksmuseum.
The exhibition is made possible in part by the Familie van Heel Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds and the Rijksmuseum International Circle. Crossings. Photography from the Indian Subcontinent has come about in cooperation with Vasantha Yogananthan.
British colonial photography in the 19th century
The Rijksmuseum photography collection holds some 1200 19th-century images from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Parts of this region remained under British colonial rule until the mid-20th century. In many cases the photographs were commissioned for European and American audiences who weren’t familiar with the region. Two of the most famous photographers involved were Linnaeus Tripe (1822-1902) and Samuel Bourne (1834-1912), who captured images of temples, cities, landscapes and people. This show presents 11 of their works alongside 9 by other photographers. While the photographs appear to offer an objective view of the world, it is clear to us that they reflect the interests of the people who commissioned them. That said, they were often the first-ever photographs of important monuments and archaeological sites, making them valuable sources of information.
Vasantha Yogananthan
The exhibition combines and contrasts the colonial gaze with that of Vasantha Yogananthan (b. 1985), who builds on the rich photographic tradition that has developed in the Indian subcontinent. The Rijksmuseum show presents a selection of images from Yogananthan’s series A Myth of Two Souls. For this project he made 13 trips to India, Nepal and Sri Lanka to explore the ways in which ancient stories, myths and traditions continue into the present day. The series depicts scenes from the Ramayana, the celebrated Hindu epic symbolising the struggle between good and evil. Written around 300 BCE, it tells the story of the exiled prince Rama and his wife Sita, who is kidnapped and held captive by the demon Ravana. In the end Sita regains her freedom, but only after a long and bloody struggle. In his personal interpretation of the epic, Yogananthan uses old photographic techniques such as colouring prints by hand.
Downloads
Vasantha Yogananthan, Demigod, Kulasekharapatnam, Tamil Nadu, India, 2019. Archival Inkjet print from the digitalisation of silver negatives. On loan from the artist.
Attributed to Linnaeus Tripe, Arcade at the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, 1858-1860. Rijksmuseum.
Samuel Bourne, View from the Manirang Pass, showing a succession of snowy summits, Himachal Pradesh, India, 1864-1866. Rijksmuseum.
Charles T. Scowen & Co.(vermeld op object), Bloesem van de Liberia-koffiestruik, Sri Lanka, 1876-1893. Rijksmuseum.
Vasantha Yogananthan, Lovebird, Ramtek, India, 2015. Archival inkjet print From the series A Myth of Two Souls (2013-2021). On loan from the artist.
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Vasantha Yogananthan, Barbershop, Ayodhya, India, 2015. Black and white C-print hand-painted by Jaykumar Shankar. From the series A Myth of Two Souls (2013-2021). On loan from the artist.
Vasantha Yogananthan, Drinking, Devaranyanadurga, India, 2016 Archival inkjet print hand-painted with acrylic. From the series A Myth of Two Souls (2013-2021). On loan from the artist.
Vasantha Yogananthan, Longing For Love, Danushkodi, India, 2018 Archival inkjet print. From the series A Myth of Two Souls (2013-2021). On loan from the artist.