Labeyrie. Romain. 19 ans, né le 13/11/74 à Cauna (Landes). Sculpteur. Anarchiste. 10/1/94. 1894

Alphonse Bertillon captured this albumen print in 1894, a portrait within a frame, fixing a young sculptor named Romain Labeyrie in a moment laden with societal implications. The sepia tones and sharp focus invite you into the gaze of a 19-year-old, identified as an anarchist. Bertillon’s approach to photography, while seemingly objective, was a tool of social architecture. The formal composition of the portrait, with its emphasis on measurement and classification, seeks to contain the individual within a system of knowledge. The subject's direct stare meets the viewer's gaze, challenging the power dynamics inherent in the photographic process. The stark details, inscribed as text on the photograph, serve as a semiotic anchor, labeling and categorizing Labeyrie within a specific framework of identity and social order. Consider how this image destabilizes the notion of a fixed identity, caught between the objectivity of the photographic technology and the complex, irreducible nature of the individual it seeks to capture.