Portrait of a Child c. 1860

Editor: This is an albumen print from around 1860, called "Portrait of a Child." What immediately strikes me is its eerie quality, mostly due to the stuffed bear in the background. It feels posed and unsettling. How do you interpret this work? Curator: That eerie feeling you're picking up on is crucial. On one level, the image reflects Romanticism's obsession with childhood innocence and the sublime, symbolized by the wildness of the bear. But, there's a darker reading here, too. Photography in this era was still relatively new and expensive, so these portraits became highly staged events, constructing an identity under specific gendered, racialized, and class expectations. Editor: I hadn't considered that angle. It’s interesting to think of the staging itself as part of the meaning. Curator: Exactly! Who decided this tableau was appropriate, and what ideas about vulnerability or protection were they trying to convey? Look at how the child isn't smiling, or even necessarily comfortable. What anxieties might be present in constructing these highly sentimental photographs? Consider the way photography became an integral tool of colonialism during this period; it reinforces power dynamics while seemingly 'innocently' portraying them. Editor: It's a strange kind of power dynamic between the viewer, the child, and...the bear? I hadn't thought about the colonial connections. It is fascinating to view this through such an intersectional lens. Curator: It really emphasizes the layers of representation involved, doesn't it? Editor: Absolutely. This work seems like an iceberg, so much more to uncover. Curator: Indeed. It makes one think about representation and control that linger beneath the surface of even the most seemingly innocent image.