Twee portretten van een vrouw met blaren op het hoofd, veroorzaakt door de Spaanse vlieg before 1894

Editor: This is quite an unsettling image. Titled "Twee portretten van een vrouw met blaren op het hoofd, veroorzaakt door de Spaanse vlieg" created before 1894, these photographs present two portraits of a woman suffering from… well, visible trauma. It’s almost clinical, presented in a book. What’s your interpretation of its historical context and the role photography plays here? Curator: It’s a chilling visual document, isn't it? Consider this not just as a portrait, but as a historical record. Photography here isn’t just capturing an image, it’s being used for medical documentation. The very act of photographing shifts the power dynamic. Who decided this image needed to be captured, circulated? Who was she in relation to Neisser? This becomes a point of concern; medical gaze can, at times, dehumanize and remove agency from the person portrayed. Does viewing these portraits presented as aesthetic observations rather than historical and ethical case studies not seem slightly… troubling? Editor: It does make me uncomfortable now that you point it out. The image is disturbing enough, but understanding that it was part of a process, a power structure, makes it even more so. I never thought of it that way before. Curator: Precisely! It's important to remember the social forces at play and how even seemingly objective documentation is shaped by those forces. So how does this prompt you to think of photography’s usage? Editor: I think it opens my eyes to how images, even medical ones, can be loaded with cultural and ethical implications that extend beyond just the visual information. It highlights that every representation is inherently a product of its context and power relations. Thank you for helping me to contextualize what the photographer and artwork represents here! Curator: And you helped bring into perspective the sheer ethical ramifications, so the appreciation goes both ways.