Vier afbeeldingen van een Samische vrouwenschedel before 1880

This is "Vier afbeeldingen van een Samische vrouwenschedel" (Four Images of a Sami Woman's Skull), made by Paolo Mantegazza using photography. This type of image was not created in a darkroom by hand, but rather through photographic printmaking, a reproductive medium, and a proto-industrialized form of labor. The material here is light-sensitive paper treated with chemicals to capture the images. The artist, if we can call him that, did not directly manipulate the material. He operated the camera, developed the image, and made choices about composition and lighting. These processes were then tied to the work of classifying, documenting, and pathologizing racial difference, which was part and parcel of maintaining the inequalities of European colonial power. The very act of capturing and reproducing this woman’s skull speaks volumes about a society preoccupied with control and classification. It's a chilling example of how seemingly objective processes like photography can be instrumentalized, perpetuating exploitation. So, by examining the material and its making, we see how deeply interwoven art, science, and social injustice could be.