By **Postcolonial theory examines how colonial power dynamics continue shaping visual representation long after empires formally ended.** When you photograph subjects from cultures different than your own, or document communities with colonial histories, you’re navigating terrain this theory illuminates. It asks: Who has the power to represent whom? Whose stories get told, and through whose lens?
For photographers, postcolonial theory isn’t abstract academic philosophy—it’s a practical framework for ethical image-making. Consider how National Geographic’s archive reveals decades of exoticizing “primitive…
