Picturing Non-Alignment: Visual Histories of Yugoslav–Cambodian Entanglements

Visuality played a central role in the representation of non-aligned relations, and the display of Yugoslav–Cambodian ties was no exception. Both sides were keen to capitalise on diplomatic visits, whether it was their own representatives travelling abroad or when hosting guests in Yugoslavia and Cambodia, respectively. Belgrade also utilised photography to convey domestic and international messages on ideas about leadership and global relevance, as well as non-aligned cooperation and relationships between south-eastern Europe and Asia. On the other hand, travel writers and photographers were central actors in shaping the literary and cultural history of the non-aligned movement. This paper explores how state-sponsored and private photographic practices established a complex imagery of non-alignment that often navigated the fine line between the established colonialist (self-)representation of Indochina, on the one hand, and anti-colonialism as a central pillar of Yugoslavia’s foreign policy, on the other. By analysing the photographs that Tito’s cabinet photographers took on the occasion of official Yugoslav–Cambodian diplomatic encounters and both the written and photographic oeuvre that came out of the Yugoslav travel writer Nada Marinković’s stays in Cambodia, the paper touches upon a broad variety of themes and entangled histories of Yugoslavia and Cambodia. It suggests that photographic practices reflected and co-constructed ideas and practices of entangled histories within the non-aligned movement, conflicting notions of colonial traditions of visual representation and vernacular cultures of (self-)representation, predominantly traditional imageries of masculinities and femininities, and visualised concepts of solidarity and anti-colonialism.