September 2023 – October 2023
Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation is an art exhibition that includes photographic stills which recreate representations of women from the colonies in Orientalist postcards dating back to the early 20th century. In an effort to broaden the cultural context of these staged images, the exhibition also includes fabric-based digital collages by artist Mara Ahmed that celebrate South Asian cities, architecture, and peoples.
The exhibition and its catalog provide information about the history of colonial postcards, the role of photography, Western imperialism and the construction of the East, the colonial male gaze, women of color as figures of a phantasm, and ways to resist such objectification and framing.
