Images from Portuguese late colonialism by the lens of women photographers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/fotocinema.30.2025.20581Keywords:
Photography, Colonialism, Gender, Portuguese colonial AfricaAbstract
This article examines the uses of photography by women within the Lusophone Africa and will consider what part their images played in the production of the colonial imaginary. The aim of this article is to survey the work of women who produced knowledge through the photographic lens and to question their absence in Portuguese historiography. By recognising women as active agents of the empire allows to give visibility to women photographers in colonial spaces while also refuting the label “women” as being a homogeneous category.
Considering some case studies, I will focus on the production of some women photographers from different backgrounds and with distinct purposes through a chronological perspective with the assumption of the relevant women’s contribution to the history of photography.
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