记录西藏:二十世纪上半期英国人在西藏的摄影活动

Recording Tibet:British Photography in Tibet in the First Half of the 20th Century

二十世纪上半期英国人在用影像记录西藏方面占据了绝对优势,西方人通过摄影获得的西藏直观印象完全操控在英国人尤其是英印殖民地边境官员手中。摄影既是入藏的英印殖民地官员的一种文化艺术活动和社会交往途径,也是获取西藏情报的重要手段,还是塑造有利于英国利益的西藏形象的有效视觉载体。英国人在西藏的“外交摄影”隐含着所希望表达的英国、印度殖民地政府与中国西藏之间的权力关系模式,反映了英国代表们与西藏精英人物保持着经常和良好的接触。相关图像也可以呈现西藏在文化人类学上的“与众不同”,甚至被用作西藏所谓“独立地位”的视觉证据。英国的早期西藏摄影在不同的历史环境下被不同的社会群体不断再选择、再阐释,有些被刻意突显,有些则被故意遗忘。对这些历史摄影进行细致的历史学、视觉人类学等方面的研究,揭示其特定的历史和政治背景以及被当代西方赋予的新美学内涵,有利于我们更好使用和解读它们。

In the first half of the 20th century,the British dominated the field of using images to document Tibet.The Western world's visual impression of Tibet was largely controlled by the British,especially by the border officials of the British Raj.Photography served as a cultural and artistic activity,a means of social interaction,an important intelligence-gathering tool,and an effective visual medium for shaping the image of Tibet that was conducive to British interests.British diplomatic photography in Tibet concealed the power dynamics the British and Indian colonial governments hoped to convey in their interactions with Tibet.It reflected the frequent contact between British representatives and Tibetan elites.These photographs could also portray Tibet as"distinct"in terms of cultural anthropology.British Tibetan photography was constantly re-selected and re-interpreted by different social groups under different historical contexts.Some were deliberately highlighted,while others were deliberately downplayed or forgotten.