Edinburgh Napier University

  The well-established colonial photography industry in Southeast Asia collapsed following the region’s long decolonisation process from mid 1940s to 1970s. Western (and a few Japanese) photographers and photo studios closed, and the majority of their traditional clientele left the liberated colonies. Against this historical backdrop the growing numbers of ethnic Chinese commercial photographic studios across the region since the end of the 19th century (and a small numbers of native photographers) bridged the photographic tradition from the colonial to the post-colonial era. Their continuing practices therefore were an adaptation and adoption of colonial convention in order to forge new national visual idioms in many Southeast Asian countries. They became part and parcel of the national identity project in their respective newly independent countries. In this light, photo studio serves as lens through which to examine how photographic tradition developed in the colonial era influenced tradition and practices in the post-colonial era. And what are the continuities, commonalities, synergies, or points of departure between them?