Nanina Guyer: Redefining Photography's Narrative at Museum Rietberg

Museum Rietberg's photography curator, Nanina Guyer, is spearheading a transformative initiative to redefine the museum's photographic archive, particularly its extensive collection from the colonial period. Her vision transcends conventional Western interpretations, fostering a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of photography's global history. Guyer's anthropological background profoundly influences her work, leading her to question and dismantle established narratives surrounding historical images and to actively seek out and integrate diverse perspectives from non-Western artists.

This innovative approach involves expanding the museum's holdings to include a wider array of works by photographers from across the majority world, while also re-examining existing colonial photographs to highlight themes of self-representation and liberation. Guyer's efforts aim to challenge visual stereotypes, acknowledge the agency of photographed subjects, and present a richer, more complex history of the medium that reflects its multifaceted development beyond a singular Western viewpoint.

Reshaping the Photographic Archive: A Polycentric Approach

Nanina Guyer, as the inaugural curator of photography and head of the photo archive at Museum Rietberg, is orchestrating a paradigm shift in the museum's approach to its image collections, especially those originating from the colonial era. Since her appointment in 2018, Guyer has been instrumental in formulating a comprehensive strategy for the photography collection, which previously lacked a systematic conceptual framework. Her efforts are centered on moving beyond viewing photographs solely as contextual documents for other artworks, instead recognizing their intrinsic value and their capacity to offer profound insights into the history of photography from diverse global perspectives, particularly studio photography from the majority world.

Guyer's strategic vision involves a deliberate expansion of the collection, with a particular emphasis on acquiring portraiture by image-makers from outside the Western world. She has successfully integrated significant collections of African studio photography, such as the Christraud M. Geary Collection and the Behrend Collection, into the museum's holdings. These acquisitions underscore her commitment to a 'polycentric history of photography,' where the medium's development is understood through multiple cultural centers rather than a single dominant narrative. Furthermore, Guyer is actively exploring ways to engage with the museum's uncatalogued travel photographs from the mid-20th century, seeking to understand how these images can enrich and expand the collection's narrative, while also challenging stereotypical representations, particularly through the inclusion of Indigenous photography from the Americas.

Recontextualizing Colonial Photography and Empowering Self-Representation

Guyer's curatorial practice is deeply rooted in her anthropological training, which instilled in her a critical perspective towards colonial legacies. She consciously rejects traditional 'fieldwork' that she perceives as neocolonial, opting instead for a museum-based approach that re-evaluates historical photographs. Her doctoral research on Sierra Leonean women's use of photography to amplify existing rituals exemplifies her core belief that non-Western cultures adopted photographic technology in ways that reflected their specific cultural practices, transforming it into a tool for self-expression and emancipation, rather than merely imitating imperial perspectives. This realization underpins her drive to recontextualize colonial-era images, recognizing that while photography served as a colonial instrument, it also provided a means for self-representation.

A key aspect of Guyer's work involves challenging the stereotypical interpretations often imposed on historical images. For instance, she has deliberately chosen not to display the original captions on Rietberg's postcards, which frequently contained generic and often misleading descriptions formulated in colonial centers. Instead, she emphasizes the agency of the individuals depicted, arguing that they brought their unique forms of self-presentation to the photographic process. Guyer actively promotes contemporary artistic reinterpretations of archival images, exemplified by acquisitions for exhibitions like "A Kind of Paradise," ensuring that the museum provides contemporary responses to its colonial photographic legacy. Her philosophical approach also extends to challenging assumptions about modernity, asserting that cultures from West Africa, India, and Japan have always possessed their own forms of modernity, thus advocating for a global understanding of photographic history that moves beyond a solely Western-centric viewpoint.