Interieur van All Saints Church te Hastings, koor en doopvont 1880 - 1900

Editor: Here we have an albumen print, circa 1880-1900, of the interior of All Saints Church in Hastings, focused on the chancel and baptismal font. There’s a solemn feel, the monochrome emphasizing the architectural grandeur, yet also a stillness like time has paused. What catches your eye in this photograph? Curator: What I see is a documentation of materiality, process, and the societal gaze upon religious structures. This isn't just an aesthetic portrayal, but a record of resources - the stone, the glass, the wood - and the labor involved in their extraction and shaping, during a period defined by Victorian industry and class division. How were these materials sourced, and what kind of labor was used to produce this architectural scene? Editor: So, less about the spiritual and more about the sweat and materials that built this space? That is unexpected. Curator: Precisely. The architecture here embodies a specific social narrative – the established church, the social order it represents, the visual and material assertion of power. What kind of control over resource allocation does this imply? Editor: It shifts my focus completely. I initially looked at it as a landscape piece portraying interior architecture, yet you’re inviting me to consider not just WHAT is shown but HOW it came to be. Curator: Think of the technological shift that allowed for the albumen print itself. Mass reproduction impacting art's accessibility and democratizing how people interact with art – and religion, for that matter. How does this photographic method challenge pre-existing artistic modes and their inherent class connotations? Editor: That’s interesting! It forces us to reconsider the photograph not as a neutral record, but as a product of its own material conditions, embedded within a larger web of social and economic relations. Curator: Indeed! This perspective opens up the artwork beyond face value, letting us explore production and societal themes.