Mereaux. Émile-Louis. 33 ans, né à Laon (Aisne). Ébéniste. Anarchiste. 23/4/92. 1892

This mugshot of Émile-Louis Mereaux, a thirty-three-year-old cabinet maker and anarchist, was made by Alphonse Bertillon around 1892. The carte-de-visite format was a popular means for photographic portraiture and a token of bourgeois life, but here, the choice of photography speaks of its emerging use in the criminal justice system. Bertillon pioneered forensic photography as a means of identifying criminals. This process involved standardizing photographic practices, and here, the plain background and frontal pose create a flat, clinical effect. Yet, it is the handwritten annotations – the man’s name, occupation and political leaning, all carefully inscribed – that animate the image, reminding us of his trade as a cabinet maker, a skilled profession requiring years of training. Mereaux’s mugshot embodies the social tensions between the rise of modern policing and individual identities. By understanding the convergence of photography, labor, and social context, we can appreciate the layers of meaning embedded in this portrait of a skilled worker and political dissident.