Archibald Butler of Faskally 1843 - 1847

This calotype, made by Hill and Adamson, shows Archibald Butter of Faskally standing with a noble posture, holding a walking stick. The checked pattern of his waistcoat, a symbol of status, echoes across time. Consider the checkerboard—a motif that goes back millennia: from ancient games boards unearthed in archaeological digs, to the floors in Renaissance paintings, evoking ideas of strategy, status and order. We even see it in the garb of clowns, an inversion of social hierarchy. The recurring appearance of the pattern, and the visual tension created by the high contrast of the squares, taps into a deep-seated part of our collective consciousness. Its effect, however, relies on contrast. The dark squares cannot exist without the light. The same could be said for humanity. Throughout time, we’ve used the checkerboard to remind ourselves of this tension—an emotional expression of our own anxieties, playing out a constant balancing act. And so, it's no accident that Butter chose this to be immortalized. The image becomes a potent reminder of our transient existence.