India’s history of photography has proved to be a bountiful source for artistic investigation. The nine contemporary artists, duos, or collectives represented in Postdate: Photography and Inherited History in India take this history into their own hands, redefining iconic images of India and investigating the complex relationships between traditions of representation and contemporary art-making practices.

These artists look closely and critically at the distinct history of Indian photography from the early days of the medium and at the height of the British occupation of the subcontinent in the nineteenth century to contemporary digital practices.  Their sources are diverse: panoramic photographs that document the development of Mumbai (then Bombay) in the mid-nineteenth century; hand-painted studio portraits from the early twentieth century; stills from Bollywood movies.

Although all history is “inherited,” these artists seek to better understand their heritage and move forward with it into the future. In this project, the term “postdate” refers to the artists’ infusing vestiges of the past with ideas from the present. This approach is an unmooring of history that, in the artists’ movements backward and forward in time, reveals the unsettled nature of this history.

These artists take a multidisciplinary approach to exploring cultural representation, methods of chronicling history, and the effects of globalism on their country. In old photographs and archives, they find stylistic similarities that raise larger questions about Indian society and make surprising, thoughtful juxtapositions that call into question the authority of historical structures.  Instead of assuming that a photograph reveals a truth, they often take to task the structure through which history is validated and question the motives underlying the image. By engaging with both local history and the larger world, they illuminate complex intersections between the past and present; rural and urban; and Western and Indian cultures. They employ new digital tools to suggest narratives that offer alternatives to dominant historical perspectives and stereotypes.  Ultimately, they seek a personal connection with the history of their country.

These artists are researchers, collectors, activists, genealogists, performers, and documentarians. Engaged globally and locally, they bear a large responsibility in defining and developing the postcolonial artistic culture in India and representing the history of their country to the world.