Read about Photographs in the Menaka Archive in The Newsletter 102 Spring 2026 published by IIAS (International Institute for Asian Studies) at the Universiteit Leiden.

The text focuses on photographs of the dancers from the Menaka Indian Ballet – particularly Leila Roy Sokhey (1899-1947), alias Madame Menaka, and Ramnarayan Mishra (1911–1972)  – and how their visual representation changed over the course of two tours in Europe. Two main questions guide this analysis: To what extent were these images shaped by colonial and orientalist perspectives? And how did the materiality of photography – as both an art and consumer medium – influence the visual identity of these performers?

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