European Photographs in the Illustrated Weekly of India, Debalina Majumdar and Manobina Roy (1959-1960)

Dr. Mallika Leuzinger pictures post-colonial Indian perspectives, through Debalina Majumdar and Manobina Roy’s European photographs published in the Illustrated Weekly of India in 1959 and 1960. In 1959, the Indian twin sisters Debalina Majumdar and Manobina Roy embarked on a six month tour across London, Paris, and Geneva. Keen amateur photographers, and members of the transnational United Provinces Photographic Association, they arrived with their cameras slung over their saris, pointed to capture new places, people, and perceptions for audiences back home. Reversing the dynamics of colonial subjectivity, their street photographs reframed what it meant to photograph and be photographed for pre and post-independence India. But they also exposed the enduring connections of these metropoles and former colonies, revealing how class and colonialism determined domestic expectations of Europe, and left them surprised and disappointed by the realities they viewed through their lenses. PRESENTER: Dr Mallika Leuzinger, Fung Global Fellow at Princeton University, and Visiting Researcher in Gender and Media Studies for the South Asian Region at Humboldt University, Berlin. ART: European Photographs in the Illustrated Weekly of India, Debalina Majumdar and Manobina Roy (1959-1960). IMAGE: ‘A Negro Orator in Hyde Park’, Manobina Roy (c. 1960). SOUNDS: Les Cartes Postales Sonores. PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic. Follow EMPIRE LINES at: twitter.com/jelsofron/status/1306563558063271936 Support EMPIRE LINES on Patreon: patreon.com/empirelines