Liégeois (ou Liegois), François. 30 ans, né à Vilette (Meurthe & Moselle). Cordonnier. Anarchiste. 26/3/94. 1894

Editor: Here we have an 1894 daguerreotype by Alphonse Bertillon entitled "Liégeois (ou Liegois), François. 30 ans, né à Vilette (Meurthe & Moselle). Cordonnier. Anarchiste. 26/3/94." It looks like a mugshot, with a neutral expression. The materiality of the print itself feels significant given its age. What can you tell me about this piece? Curator: Absolutely. Bertillon’s work sits at a fascinating intersection of art, technology, and social control. This image isn't just a portrait, it’s a data point within the Bertillon system – a method of identifying and categorizing individuals, primarily for law enforcement. Consider the context of its production: industrializing Europe, anxieties about social order, and the rise of scientific methods applied to policing. Editor: So, it’s more about the system than the subject himself? Curator: Precisely. Think about the labor involved: from the mining of the materials for the photographic plate, to the scientific expertise in developing the image, to the bureaucratic processes it serves. Even Liégeois' profession as a cobbler is relevant – his labor marked as potentially disruptive to the prevailing social order. Editor: That makes me think about the power dynamics inherent in creating the image. The subject, identified as an anarchist, likely had little agency in how he was presented. Curator: Exactly. The image becomes a tool of surveillance and control, its meaning inseparable from the processes and the socio-political forces that brought it into being. Does that give you a different perspective? Editor: It definitely does. It highlights how photography, ostensibly a tool for capturing reality, can also be a means of enforcing certain power structures by emphasizing materials and methods of its production. I had not initially picked up on that connection to materials and means of control.