"Distance and Desire is the first major publication to stage a dialogue between the ethnographic visions of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century African photography and engagements with the archive by contemporary artists. Presenting an extraordinary range of portraits, cartes de visite, postcards and album pages from Southern and Eastern Africa, as well as recent photography and video art, the catalogue includes original thematic essays by leading art historians, anthropologists and cultural critics. Distance and Desire offers a new perspective on the African archive, reimagining its diverse histories and changing meanings."--book jacket.