These photographs of anthropologists at work convey the discipline’s paternalistic self-image. They depict research that consisted of sorting humans by ethnicity and classifying them into a hierarchical system. The pictures seem to suggest that this work culminated in the “domestication” of “savages.” European scientists can be seen posing with the subjects of their research like fathers with their children—or perhaps hunters with their trophies?

Allegorical representations of parts of the earth embody a tradition that extends back to antiquity. Personifications of foreign continents took up their characteristics and reveal ideas of unknown cultures held by people of earlier ages. Africa was most frequently symbolized by men and women with dark skin. The idea of exotic lands figured prominently in porcelain artwork. “Tamed savages” decked many festive tables.

Brook Andrew’s work “Sexy and Dangerous” deals with both the difficult legacy colonialism left behind in Australia and the tensions still palpable today between the aboriginal and immigrant populations. The work is based on an ethnographic postcard that has been digitally edited by the artist. The title Sexy and Dangerous plays with the clichéd notion of the sexual potency of “savages,” who are both feared and desired.