Wallays. Charles. 29 ans, né à Lille. Tailleur d'habits. Anarchiste. 9/3/94. 1894

This photograph, taken in 1894 by Alphonse Bertillon, presents a frontal portrait of Wallays Charles using the then-innovative method of criminal identification known as Bertillonage. The sepia tones lend a sense of historical distance, yet the stark directness of the subject's gaze forges an immediate connection. Bertillon’s system, rooted in a belief in the measurable and classifiable nature of individuals, sought to impose order on the seeming randomness of criminality. The photograph’s composition—the subject centered, the background neutral—highlights the pseudo-scientific ambition to capture and categorize. But the hand-written annotations introduce an element of human imperfection, resisting the totalizing impulse of the system. The subject's physical presentation—his clothing, his expression—exists in tension with the labeling of him as an 'Anarchiste.' This highlights the photograph’s role not merely as a record, but as an instrument of social and political control. It encourages us to reflect on how systems of representation can both reveal and conceal, categorize and potentially misrepresent individuals within broader cultural and political narratives.