Untitled (six photographs of unidentified sitters) 1862 - 1888

Curator: Here we have a page from an album containing six photographs of unidentified sitters, created by Mary Georgiana Caroline Cecil Filmer. It is housed at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The composition strikes me immediately. Such an intentional arrangement! There’s a sense of performance in the way the photographs are placed, almost like a collage. Curator: Exactly! Albums like these were crucial for constructing and circulating social identities in the 19th century. It was very common among the British upper class. Editor: The materiality fascinates me. The way these albumen prints are carefully adhered, the embellishments...it speaks to a leisure class and their meticulous attention to detail, and also the availability of photographic materials. Curator: Indeed. The act of creating the album itself became a social ritual, a way to curate and present one's social circle. Editor: Seeing these intimate portraits displayed so deliberately gives me a peek into a hidden world. Curator: For me, it is a reminder that photography has always been intertwined with social structures.