Plate Number 444. Two models shaking hands and kissing each other 1887

Eadweard Muybridge created this composite photograph of two models shaking hands and kissing each other as part of his motion studies. These photographic sequences emerged from late 19th-century scientific efforts to dissect and understand human movement. Think about what it meant to visually capture and categorize bodies at this time. The models, stripped bare, become objects of study, their individual identities subsumed by the scientific gaze. This was an era marked by intense social and scientific interest in categorizing and defining human behavior, often through the lens of race, gender, and class. What does it mean to see a same-sex embrace rendered as a scientific specimen? How might that challenge or reinforce the social norms of the time? This work makes me consider the complex interplay between science, sexuality, and representation. It invites us to reflect on how the act of observation shapes our understanding of the human experience.