The British anthropologist Elizabeth Edwards describes the relationship between the photographic gaze and its ability to map, control and create a positivist knowledge of both people and places. The land of Kenya has never been a Danish colony, but the African country nevertheless occupies a significant place in the cultural memory of Danes’ as a result of the author Karen Blixen’s stories of her African farm, from the period when the country was part of the British Empire.
This work explores the image of the Kenyan landscape and how these are created through Danish national photo collections from the 20th Century. Through a playfull reinterpretation of found material from The Royal Library, The National Museum of Denmark and Moesgaard Ethnographic Collections Vestergaard reflects upon Denmark’s engagement in the production of colonial visuality, as well as the underlying ideas of land and nature, which the photographs support.