IMIFANEKISO: An Introduction to the Photographic Portraits of Dr R.J. Mann

Abstract

This paper introduces the photographic work of Robert James Mann, medical doctor, researcher and writer on the natural sciences, and educator, who worked in Natal from 1858 to 1866. Extant examples of his Natal photographs include a series of portraits of settler and African subjects and the paper argues that while his work is clearly part-time and amateur, it is also immediate and often achieves not just a physical, but a revealing personal proximity to the subject, so often lacking in more professional, technically adept photographs of the time.