Elf aanzichten van onbekende personen met musculaire atrofie before 1901

This set of monochrome photographs of people with muscular atrophy is by an anonymous artist. In each shot, it seems the subjects have been positioned in different ways. What might the photographer have been thinking at that time? Perhaps they wanted to capture their subject's likeness from all possible angles. Or maybe they were interested in the effects of atrophy, and how bodies adapt to it. There’s an incredible softness to each of these shots, a subtle blend of light and shadow that evokes a sense of the real. The poses and expressions invite a lot of feeling. You can see the traces of past photographers in this work – Eadweard Muybridge, for example, who was also interested in bodies in motion, and how to capture and depict them. Every photographer brings their own sensibilities to their work. What they’re trying to say, what they’re thinking about. Each image feels like a shared conversation, an exchange of ideas across time.