
Open Access
Picture postcards originating from former colonial contexts are notably more prevalent than the photographic prints they were based on, and these postcards' abundance is mainly reflected in collections in those regions to which they were sent. Embedded in colonialist communication, these images continue to shape the history of colonial-era photography. This article examines the photographic practices of Jacob Vitta (?–1914), a photographer and publisher from the former Gold Coast Colony who documented the landscape ravaged by mechanized gold mining. I trace the practices and networks involved in the production and dissemination of Vitta's postcards and photographs in order to highlight the contradictory discursive contexts in which his photographs appeared.