Mouette. Charles. 32 ans, né à Paris Ile. Peintre en bâtiment. Association de malfaiteurs. 20/3/94. 1894

This is an albumen print made in France in 1894 by Alphonse Bertillon. It's a mugshot, a tool of the modern criminal justice system pioneered by Bertillon himself. Consider the social context: late 19th-century Paris, a city grappling with rapid industrialization, urbanization, and anxieties about crime and social order. Bertillon developed a system of anthropometry, meticulously measuring and categorizing physical features to identify repeat offenders. Photography became a crucial component, standardizing the visual record of individuals processed by the police. This image embodies the institutionalization of surveillance and control. The dispassionate gaze, the stark lighting, and the inscribed data all contribute to the objectification of the subject, Charles Mouette, reduced to a set of measurable traits. The inscription "association de malfaiteurs" further reinforces the subject's pre-determined criminality, the politics of this imagery leave little room for nuance. By studying police archives, sociological texts, and the history of criminology, we can better understand the complex interplay between art, science, and social power that this photograph represents.