Focusing beyond Europe: Islamic urbanism decoded through the lens of pioneer photographers

Abstract

During the 1800s, looking east represented the realm of exoticism and mystery from a European perspective. Literature and painting provided perfect canvases for fertile explorations of the unknown and unlimited boundaries for imagination. By the second half of the century, several pioneer Western photographers travelled to the Middle East, homing in images which encapsulated such imagery. Whether mainly in search of Nile temples, the Holy Land or traditional costumes, whether amateurs or commercial photographers, they all sailed to harbours and visited important cities in the region. The reception of these shots was imbued with Orientalist impressions. At a time when Western powers were looking to a decaying Ottoman Empire with increasing colonial appetite, images helped conveying notions of chaos and disorder, insalubrity or lack of self-governance. Yet, through the very same pictures, the perception of a different reality was already available, challenging lens and representations. This paper wishes to abandon stereotypes and interpret the codes of the traditional Islamic city as they were being offered to those who dared to break the frame of Orientalism. In the 19th century, the negotiation between physical and political distances prevented an already reluctant international community from reading architecture and cities, showing how levels of resilience to evidence blocked the conscience of the other and the different. Decoding the traditional Islamic built environment requires a visual scrutiny of degrees of halal, the public sphere, and haram, considered private, forbidden or sacred. Thus, critical distance offers a morphological turn, allowing us to reflect on the construction of identities beyond Europe and to question veils of isolation, as well as canals of communication and travel. From panoramic to ground views, streets or buildings, examining these photographs means acknowledging their contemporaneity and timeliness; a portrait of cities photography brought to light a century and a half ago.