On the Baulks 1887

Editor: So this photograph, “On the Baulks,” was taken in 1887 by Peter Henry Emerson. It features two figures standing on what appears to be a wooden structure by the water. There's a very palpable sense of stillness and quietude here... What jumps out at you about it? Curator: For me, the photograph invites an investigation into the very means of its making. Consider Emerson's choice of photography during this period; he’s engaging with new technologies to represent rural labour, blurring lines between art and industry. It's not just about aesthetic representation. Editor: Interesting! So you are seeing the technique and material itself as key to understanding the subject matter. Curator: Exactly. And the "baulks" themselves – these roughly hewn timbers, seemingly the refuse or forgotten infrastructure of shipbuilding. What kind of work was happening there? What do you notice about the relationship between the men and their environment? Is it celebratory? Exploitative? Something else? Editor: I hadn’t really thought about the baulks as being discarded materials with labor implications. Looking closer, I see the men’s dark, plain clothing; there is little to romanticize their place within that scene. Curator: And the pictorialist style, softening the image? That manipulates the narrative, doesn’t it? It encourages the viewer to engage with a mediated representation of the working class and the English landscape. Editor: So it's not just about seeing the photo, but seeing the socio-economic structures embedded within its production, from the labor depicted to the technological and stylistic choices involved in its creation. It highlights the material conditions of the image itself! Curator: Precisely. And how that material interacts with – and informs – the story being told. Thanks for prompting a deeper look; the simple photograph speaks volumes about our connection to the resources around us.