Paper short abstract:

Retelling the biography of a single photograph from South India, 1928, reveals the different perspectives a remediation can prompt, reinforces that “every era adds its own meaning to the picture” and demonstrates that reciprocal value in photo-elicitation is not an intrinsic part of archival photographs.

Paper long abstract:

A photograph can include certain biographical chapters. The 1928 picture of a man in a costume was once perceived - by the photographer - as a mean to document the way the 'devil dancer's' costume is worn.

The photograph was later used to reconstruct the way of wearing the costume and to display via the rearranged material culture the South Indian 'devil dance' in a German museum, leading to questions of appropriate museum politics, fetishisation and agency.

An ethno-historical analysis of the photograph, its form and content, reads the photograph as an incomplete example of teyyam, a lived South-Indian ritual including the depicted material culture.

The photograph's visual repatriation and hence perception by representatives of the 'source community' enables further forms of remediation and reveals semantic connections that lead to additional narratives. These include emotional associations to the depicted, reflections of personal situations and of musealisation.

The gathering of these multiple perspectives led to a deeper understanding of the depicted for the researcher. But it did not result in a reciprocal value for the 'source community' as is demanded by a number of authors. It did not influence norms or was part of learning, art and education. It was not used for social or political empowerment. It was mere pastime. While one could (on ethical grounds) argue for a reciprocal value, to demand it would be an essentialisation, paving the way for paternalism. Accepting that "every era adds its own meaning to the picture" includes the recognition of potential insignificance and fetishisation.