Struggles to Appear: Afro-Colombian Men and the Technologies of Inclusion in Early 20th-Century Colombia

The institutionalization of a visuality of exclusion, and/or conditional acceptance, during the Regeneration period in Colombia (1880-1887) did not dissuade Afro-Colombians from claiming their belonging to the body politic through visual mediums. While photography made a relatively early entrance to Colombia, it was not until the 1900s that print culture would incorporate photographs in newspapers and illustrated magazines, and that photographic workshops would provide more affordable prices for middle classes. In 1903, the illustrated magazine El Gráfico published a photograph of the last surviving soldier of the Independence struggles, while Luis Antonio Robles, a congressman, got his photograph taken at a photographic studio in Bogotá; they were both black men. This paper explores the distinctive ways in which these two Afro-Colombian men achieved visual representation in a context characterized by state-sponsored attempts aimed at invisibilizing their presence. It argues that by using emerging technologies such as photography, Afro-Colombians documented their existence and ultimately claimed their belonging to the Colombian body politic.