The availability of what William Ivins famously called “exactly repeatable visual statements” produced a technological revolution that transformed communication in the early modern world in ways no less significant than the internet has done for modern life.

Travelers from Europe carried images with them around the globe to maintain awareness of their own culture and to share ideas and information with those they encountered. Returning explorers circulated their discoveries through prints and illustrated books. This phenomenon has been the subject of much study in recent years, but often, researchers focus on specific cultural interactions, such as Jesuit preaching in Mexico or Dutch perceptions of China.

This session marks the beginning of a project to develop an on-line network for researchers concerned with how images contributed to cultural transfer in the early modern world. We hope that sharing of publications and information about specific projects can lead to collaborative research and identification of global patterns of communication and exchange.

This session seeks to bring together researchers concerned with the impact of European visual imagery in colonial settlements or other contact zones throughout the world in the early modern period (16th-18th centuries).

Paper topics might address instances of either visual communication between cultures or the collecting and dissemination of visual imagery to sustain awareness of European culture among settlers. We are especially interested in research using digital humanities methods, but all approaches are welcome.

Abstracts of up to 250 words in length, together with a CV, should be sent to: Stephanie Dickey at: dickey.ss@gmail.com and Arvi Wattel at: arvi.wattel@uwa.edu.au