Deel van een koorhek van de Notre-Dame te Parijs c. 1875 - 1900

This is a photograph of a section of the choir screen of Notre-Dame in Paris, taken by an unknown photographer. The original screen, made of stone, was intricately carved, a testament to the skill of medieval masons. Consider the sheer amount of time and expertise that was required for the production of this piece. In its original context, the choir screen would have served to separate the clergy from the laity, its ornate carvings reflecting the importance of religious spaces, but also acting as a kind of barrier, demarcating the sacred from the everyday. The photograph itself, while a relatively new medium at the time, serves here as a document and a means of disseminating the image of the screen to a wider audience. The material reality of the screen, then, is transformed by photographic technology. In this way, the image becomes untethered from its original social and religious context, allowing it to circulate as a commodity and an object of study.