Trucanini’s Dignity
Abstract
Abstract Trucanini, a Tasmanian Aboriginal woman who lived from 1812 to 1876, was once said to be the ‘last of her race’. The fact that there is today a thriving Indigenous community in Tasmania testifies to the falsity of that claim but, at the time, one consequence of it was that she attracted considerable interest from colonial photographers. This paper, delivered as the London Review of International Law Annual Lecture in November 2024, discusses some of the photographs taken of Trucanini, and asks what we can learn from them about the interrelation of racial ‘science’, colonial photography and human dignity.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Indigenous Cultures and History
Photographic and Visual Arts
Photography and Visual Culture
Publication details
- Journal / source
- London Review of International Law
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3–16
- Publication date
- 10 January 2026
- Language
- EN