The second in the series of Punjab Heritage Lectures launches today. Parmjit Singh presents a “Picture of the Sikhs” a presentation on the photographic record of the last 150 years of Anglo Sikh History.

The last one hundred and fifty years also coincide with the age of the development of photography. In 1849 on the eve of the second Anglo-Sikh was that ended the kingdom created by the legendry Maharaja Ranjit Singh, John McCosh, a surgeon in the British India army, took the first grainy shots of Sikhs and monuments of Lahore. Since then the history of the Sikhs has been played out in front of the camera’s lens.

McCosh heralded the firs of the military photographers who went on to capture the Sikhs in the British army. Early Victorian photographs of the Sikhs highlight attitudes connected with the British presence in India, indicating both the power of photography as a colonial tool of classification and appropriation. a unique opportunity to view images from public collections including the National Army Museum, Imperial War Museum and the British Library.

This lecture now accompanies Christy Campbell’s superb presentation on Maharaja Duleep Singh that was launched last month.

Please visit www.punjabheritagelectures.org to view the lectures site or visit http://www.punjabheritagelectures.org/picture_of_the_sikhs/index.html to go direct to Parmjit's presentation