Prasannajit de Silva's work contributes significantly to understanding the complexities of the British Empire, moving beyond political history to explore the social and cultural intersections that defined life in India during the colonial period. His research highlights that colonial life was deeply intertwined with local Indian culture, creating a unique, hybrid visual language.
Dr. Prasannajit de Silva: Visualising Identity and the Geopolitics of British Colonial Art prasannajit de silva
The book is structured in three main parts. The first part focuses on a small but significant group of oil paintings from the period of 1785 to 1805. These include portraits of mixed-race families and individual portraits of bibis (Indian wives and mistresses). Perhaps the most famous of these is the "Palmer Conversation Piece," a painting of William Palmer with his Mughal wife and children, which has long been cited as evidence of a remarkable era of tolerance. Dr. de Silva argues that the reality was far more complicated. He contends that the painting of these portraits occurred at a time of increasing social pressure on mixed-race relations and legal restrictions against the Eurasian population. Rather than reflecting an idyllic reality, these works can be seen as attempts to stabilize fluid and precarious identities, revealing a deep-seated ambivalence and mirroring the era's changing racial attitudes. Perhaps the most famous of these is the