Plate Number 82. Ascending an incline with a bucket of water in each hand 1887

Eadweard Muybridge made this photographic plate of a woman ascending an incline with buckets using a complex system of trip wires and cameras in the 1880s. It was part of a larger project to document human and animal locomotion. Muybridge’s work was undertaken at the University of Pennsylvania, an institution interested in the scientific study of the human body. Such studies were rooted in the eugenics movement, which sought to classify people based on physical characteristics. Consider the clinical setting, the repetitive nature of the task, and the anonymity of the model, whose face is obscured. What does it mean to study the human form in this way? Is it an attempt to understand the mechanics of movement, or is it something more sinister? Art historians rely on institutional records and other contextual documents to understand the values that underpin artistic production. By studying the social context of this image, we can better understand the politics of representation and the power dynamics at play.