Fotoreproductie van Een wortel met patientiotype door Antoine Wiertz before 1868

Edmond Fierlants captured this "Fotoreproductie van Een wortel met patientiotype door Antoine Wiertz" using photography. Here, we observe a peculiar subject: a root, strikingly resembling a human figure afflicted with what the title suggests is the ‘patientiotype.’ Within the context of its time, this image delves into the cultural fascination with physiognomy, the belief that one's character could be discerned from their external appearance. Consider how throughout history, the human form has been found in nature—faces in clouds, figures in tree trunks. This impulse to anthropomorphize reflects a deep-seated psychological need to find ourselves mirrored in the world around us. This tendency to find human-like attributes in non-human entities taps into our collective unconscious, revealing a primal desire to connect with the natural world on a deeply personal level. The photograph plays on our innate tendency to project and interpret, reminding us that the line between nature and human nature is ever fluid, and that the symbols we find in art are echoes of the symbols we find within ourselves.