Dr. Juanita Solano Roa is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History at the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá.

In this lecture, Dr. Solano Roa will present the work of two pivotal photographic studios—Fotografía Rodríguez and Benjamín de la Calle—in late nineteenth-century Medellín, Colombia. Drawing from her book Negative Originals: Race and Early Photography in Colombia, she will examine how photography was used both to construct and contest racial ideologies during a critical period in Colombian history.

Through a close reading of photographic negatives and prints, she will highlight how visual culture shaped regional and national discourses linking race to progress. In her analysis, she juxtaposes conventional portraiture—often reinforcing dominant racial narratives—with subversive images of marginalized subjects, including cross-dressers, peasants, Black individuals, and the poor.

The lecture will also introduce the concept of the negative as a theoretical tool—understood materially, symbolically, and spatially—to uncover photography’s fragmented temporality and its role in shaping identity. This approach challenges traditional frameworks that prioritize positive prints, offering a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the photographic archive in Latin America.