Reframing the Networks and Visualities of Imperial War Photography: Felice Beato in Asia
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Hist, Anthrop, Philos & Politics
Abstract
Reframing the Networks and Visualities of Imperial War Photography: Felice Beato in Asia
This fellowship at the Freer|Sackler will be used to develop path-breaking digital techniques for the analysis and display of historical photography.
In collaboration with the National Army Museum in London, this project will build on the applicant's research into the historical photography of Britain's imperial wars in Asia in the nineteenth century, as photographed by the Italo-British photographic pioneer Felice Beato (1832-1909). Famous for his photographs of the Indian Rebellion in 1858 and of the Second Opium War in China in 1860, Beato photographed other imperial conflicts in Asia and beyond, including the Third Anglo-Burmese War, and America's short-lived invasion of Korea in 1871. He had close links to British commanders and to individual soldiers, and was one of the first semi-official war photographers.
Beato is known for his willingness to photograph the dead bodies of (non-Western) soldiers, and for his manipulation of the battle scenes he documented, but his influence on contemporaries is unclear. The applicant will develop innovative digital techniques to reconstruct the social networks of Felice Beato and his war photography in order to understand how these photographs were produced and viewed, and how they helped to shape the visual world of empire in the nineteenth century. The applicant will use creative digital techniques to interpret and exhibit Beato's photographs in unexpected ways, identifying stories of anti-colonial resistance, and using design approaches to reveal events and interpretations half-hidden behind the photograph's dominant narrative.
Through this fellowship, the applicant will be able to work collaboratively with the Freer|Sackler and other Smithsonian institutions to develop these digital techniques and to disseminate them widely among curators and historians.
This fellowship at the Freer|Sackler will be used to develop path-breaking digital techniques for the analysis and display of historical photography.
In collaboration with the National Army Museum in London, this project will build on the applicant's research into the historical photography of Britain's imperial wars in Asia in the nineteenth century, as photographed by the Italo-British photographic pioneer Felice Beato (1832-1909). Famous for his photographs of the Indian Rebellion in 1858 and of the Second Opium War in China in 1860, Beato photographed other imperial conflicts in Asia and beyond, including the Third Anglo-Burmese War, and America's short-lived invasion of Korea in 1871. He had close links to British commanders and to individual soldiers, and was one of the first semi-official war photographers.
Beato is known for his willingness to photograph the dead bodies of (non-Western) soldiers, and for his manipulation of the battle scenes he documented, but his influence on contemporaries is unclear. The applicant will develop innovative digital techniques to reconstruct the social networks of Felice Beato and his war photography in order to understand how these photographs were produced and viewed, and how they helped to shape the visual world of empire in the nineteenth century. The applicant will use creative digital techniques to interpret and exhibit Beato's photographs in unexpected ways, identifying stories of anti-colonial resistance, and using design approaches to reveal events and interpretations half-hidden behind the photograph's dominant narrative.
Through this fellowship, the applicant will be able to work collaboratively with the Freer|Sackler and other Smithsonian institutions to develop these digital techniques and to disseminate them widely among curators and historians.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Emma Reisz (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
B. Widdis
(2025)
Collecting Ambiguity: Objects and the Afterlives of Empire on the Island of Ireland
in ICOFOM Study Series
Reisz E
(2024)
Photoanthropocene: The decentered lens of colonial photography
in Curator: The Museum Journal
| Description | The Italo-British photographer Felice Beato (1832-1909) is familiar to specialists, but Beato has been largely overlooked by historians of the British empire as a pivotal figure in shaping Britain's mid-Victorian imperial culture. His work has also been generally neglected by military historians as a primary source for investigating Britain's imperial wars. This project explored Beato's contribution to the visual vocabulary through which Victorian Britons perceived and imagined their empire, and the relationship between Beato's imperial vision and that of British imperial administrators and soldiers. The research looked at Beato's social networks (including links to British military officers, administrators, and cultural elite) to explore the development of nineteenth-century imperial visual cultures and visualities. Central to my research on Beato was the way that photography establishes and cements visual tropes and themes in the minds of viewers, and so influences their visual experience. Early imperial war photography had such a striking impact on visualities that contemporaries identified a 'golden harvest' of visual material from India, China and elsewhere, reaped through the cheap and reproducible medium of photography, and the displacement of older visual arts and of their visual frames of reference. My research into the visuality of imperial war combines scholarly and public history, and central to my work identified new approaches to communicating and exploring historical visualities. The project resulted in a research article for the leading museum journal, Curator, giving museum curators a new way to think about nineteenth-century photography through the concept of the photoanthropocene. This article argued that photography was the primary way in which the transformation of the natural world by human intervention was documented in the nineteenth century, and traced how global imperialism and commercial activity, as documented in the work of photographers like Felice Beato, contributed to that transformation. With this fellowship, I will be able to take the path-breaking digital techniques I am developing to understand imperial war photography and explore how they might be used more widely by curators and scholars to create new ways of researching and exhibiting historical photograhy. Objective 1, the application of social network analysis to historical photography, promises to be significant not only for this project and for the wider project on social network analysis at the Freer|Sackler to which I have been invited to contribute (see attached letter of support), but also for museums generally. The use of longitudinal social network analysis is in its infancy (e.g. Journal of Historical Network Research, est. 2017) but social network analysis has the potential to make a major contribution to our understanding of how social networks and associated power structures shape prevailing visual cultures and visualities. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this research are particularly relevant to historians, art historians and the museum sector. Historians and art historians can make use of the research into Felice Beato and into imperial war photography, and particularly can make use of the new online catalogue of the work of Felice Beato. Museums can make use of the new digital practices developed through this award, such as the new approach to using online tools to create a catalogue raisonee, new approaches to 3d visualisation of lost structures using historical photography, and new approaches to analysing the historical social networks associated with objects in museum collections. |
| Sectors | Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://reframingimperialwar.org |
| Description | This research has had two primary non-academic impacts. One of the project partners, the National Army Museum (NAM), possesses an excellent and understudied collection of photography by Felice Beato, documenting the experiences of British Army soldiers during Britain's imperial wars. Based on the research done during this project, NAM is now working with project PI to develop a proposal for an exhibition of Beato's photography to be held at the National Army Museum in 2026. Secondly, the project has contributed to the development of a follow-on impact project led by the PI exploring how imperial objects inside and outside museums are meaningful to the public, the MMMV project https://mmmv.org . In partnership with the Irish Museum Association, this project is having a significant impact on museum decolonisation in Ireland, both North and South. This impact project draws on the insights into the decolonisation of imperial photographic collections which the PI developed during this project. In partnership with the community arts organisation ArtsEkta, the MMMV project is also contributing to the development of best practice in the community sector in Northern Ireland around using museum objects and personal collections to make sense of the legacies and afterlives of empire. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Description | Workshop on decolonisation hosted jointly with the Irish Museums Association, Dublin, October 2023 |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Attendees reported that their participation in the workshop had increased their confidence in addressing issues of museum decolonisation in their museum. |
| URL | https://mmmv.org |
| Description | Workshop on museum decolonisation hosted jointly with the Irish Museums Association in Derry, 3 Sep 2024 |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Feedback from museum participants indicates that the programme has improved confidence in addressing museum decolonisation and capacity to work in this area. |
| URL | https://irishmuseums.org/events/menii-memories-menii-voices-workshop-1#!event-register/2024/9/3/meni... |
| Description | Historic Houses, Global Crossroads: Revisioning Two Northern Ireland Historic Houses and Estates |
| Amount | £1,255,847 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AH/Z506436/1 |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2024 |
| End | 08/2027 |
| Description | IAA - Economic and Social Research Council - Leading Impact |
| Amount | £14,938 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2023 |
| End | 09/2024 |
| Description | MENII Memories, MENII Voices (MMMV). Awarded though the Arts and Humanities Research Council IAA scheme, Leading Impact programme |
| Amount | £8,319 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2023 |
| End | 12/2023 |
| Description | Shortlisted - Community Innovation Practitioner scheme |
| Amount | £75,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Title | Beato photographic database |
| Description | Digital catalogue of Beato photography. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Facilitates research into Felice Beato. |
| URL | http://reframingimperialwar.net |
| Description | ArtsEkta as an HHGC partner |
| Organisation | ArtsEkta |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The HHGC team has contributed understanding of contested histories, how these can be integrated constructively into heritage practice, and of co-production methodologies for heritage engagement. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ArtsEkta has contributed understanding of delivering intercultural heritage engagement in Northern Ireland, connections to diverse communities, and creative networks. |
| Impact | Improved methodologies for intercultural heritage engagement, leading to societal benefits. Strong relationship leading to further projects. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Creative Communities Community Innovation Practitioner |
| Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Application submitted to AHRC Creative Communities CIP Awards 2025/26 - invited to second stage. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Please see above. |
| Impact | Ongoing |
| Start Year | 2025 |
| Description | NMNI as Chinese culture engagement partner |
| Organisation | National Museums Northern Ireland |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Historical expertise on Chinese material culture. Expertise in heritage co-production with diverse communities. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in public engagement and in museum decolonisation. |
| Impact | Collaborative project proposals. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | National Army Museum |
| Organisation | National Army Museum |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We worked closely with the National Army Museum to understand their photographic holdings more closely. |
| Collaborator Contribution | NAM contributed to the project by providing us with access to their collections and to their research materials. We worked closely together to extend the digitisation of their materials. |
| Impact | Reframing Imperial War digital catalogue |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art (formerly Freer|Sackler) |
| Organisation | Smithsonian Institution |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Research into photographic collection held at the Freer|Sackler. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Support for research in Washington D.C., and access to facilities at the Freer|Sackler. |
| Impact | Reframing Imperial War digital catalogue |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Title | RIW: Omeka S theme |
| Description | Reframing Imperial War is an Omeka S theme with second-level navigation, developed for the Reframing Imperial War project and available for general use and modification. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Use in the Reframing Imperial War website |
| URL | https://github.com/reframing-imperial-war/riw |
| Description | 'Historic Houses, Global Crossroads: Collections in Transition' panel at Irish Museums Association, Tralee, 5 March 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Panel presentation to a professional audience at Irish Museums Association. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://irishmuseums.org/annual-conference/2025-irish-museums-association-annual-conference/programm... |
| Description | A decentered lens: colonial photography and the right to the real |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Contribution to Northern Bridge DTP training for PGRs focusing on the decolonisation of historical photography. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |