Watching the Pageant, Delhi

[Original caption, Verso] “Watching the Pageant, Delhi. The great Delhi Durbar is known by means of the vernacular press to the inhabitants of the remotest parts of India. At Delhi those native women, who are not deterred from viewing the spectacle by caste or religious restrictions, are in this instance perhaps the most fortunate.” [end]

The woman is gently lifting her dupatta to look back at the “cameraman.” All eyes are on the viewer, including those of a little boy. Menpes once again reverses the roles of the artist seeing and the person being seen, all within the casualness of a photographic moment.