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The scope and meanings of the terms oriental and occidental may have changed over time but one thing has remained constant—the inference to the superior self and the inferior other. These binaries in Reinhart Koselleck’s words, operate on “asymmetrical concepts that are equally antithetical” such as “Hellene-Barbarian” corresponding to “civilised-uncivilised”. Using the oriental/occidental framework, this panel aims to investigate the realm of visual arts and relevant texts of different geographic locations and a variety of cultural constellations. Each paper will discuss paintings or artefacts and texts to bring to our attention fascinating facts about these unsuspected sites used as arenas to claim cultural and political hegemony. On the one hand each paper will engage in a serious study of the narrator’s voice and locale of this discourse and on the other, the implications of these for the subservient featured in this unpropitious landscape. Tracing this theme’s connections with power and visuality, the four papers will offer close studies of textual and visual references and presentations of women in Safavid and Qajar Iran (17th–19th centuries), Romania (19th century), colonial India with a focus on 19th century Punjab, and the visual material carrying references of the Russo-Turkish wars by an 18th century artist of Ukrainian origin.