This podcast episode discusses the work of British colonial officer, Maurice Vidal Portman, who took photographs of the Andamanese peoples in the late 19th century and described their bodies in deeply uncomfortable detail. The episode delves into the cultural details of the Andamanese people and how Portman's work was part of a larger colonial project to document and preserve the "vanishing aesthetic asset" of the indigenous people.
The article discusses the colonial photography of James Henry Green and how it contributed to the dehumanization and exploitation of the Andamanese people.
The culture and practices of the Andamanese people were recorded by British colonial officer John Henry Cornelius Portman, whose photographs of the Andamanese people have been both criticized for their exploitation and praised for their insight into a now-vanished way of life.