Ethnographic and Natural Scientific Slides of E. St. Vráz (1860–1932): Use of Images for Public Education

Look beyond the image

Travel photographs and projected slides offered audiences encounters with places, environments and people they might never experience directly. In public lectures, visual material could be a powerful source of curiosity and knowledge.

These images also deserve critical attention. What was included or excluded? How did a traveller's perspective shape an audience's view? Revisiting such materials today means taking their historical context seriously while remaining attentive to the people and cultures they represent.

Questions to explore

1. i.What lies beyond the edges of a historical photograph?
2. ii.Who was describing the place, and to whom?
3. iii.What new context would help us see this image differently today?