Zarina Bhimji
by Juliana Kolc-Dass
November 13, 2025
by Juliana Kolc-Dass
November 13, 2025
Untitled (Love Series), Zarina Bhimji, 2003
Ugandan-Indian photographer Zarina Bhimji’s “Love Series” documents eroding colonial buildings across Africa and South Asia to evoke the ongoing consequences of British colonialism globally. To uncover the aesthetics of an imperialistic afterlife, Bhimji meticulously uses light to leverage the emotional weight imbued into these historical representations — an element that adds to the minimalist composition, layering color and symmetry as if it were a painting.
Your Sadness is Drunk, Zarina Bhimji, 2006
The emptiness, silence and implied erasure of the images invites viewers to simply feel, rather than analyze. As Bhimji describes, ‘My work is not about the actual facts, but about the echo they create, the marks, the gestures and the sound. This is what excites me.” These long, meditative shots aren’t maps of discovery, but reminders of the unforgettable trauma that lingers on for generations.
Shadows & Disturbance, Zarina Bhimji, 2007
The diagonal lighting in Shadows & Disturbances vividly captures the story of the original inhabitants of a collapsing palace in Kutch, India. Bhimji begins her work at a visual level, with the abandoned, antiquated door and space representing the nuance of colonial and decolonial powers. Modernity clashes with opposing forces, showcasing the photo’s atmospheric truth. The teal wallpaper and wooden sticks are overshadowed by the darkness, which towers over them from above the wardrobe. These elements emphasize how systems of power imprint themselves on nature, embodying the principles of postcolonial memory.
Aesthetics of colonialism are imprinted directly in the image's composition. Resisting spectacle, Bhimji’s still technique encapsulates the journey of our culturally diverse world from colonialism to freedom. Through quiet resilience, her work reminds us that beauty can emerge even from the remnants of history’s most fractured landscapes.