Figure 54: Voluntary lowering of the lower jaw 1854 - 1856

Editor: This is "Figure 54: Voluntary lowering of the lower jaw," a photograph taken between 1854 and 1856 by Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne. The subject's expression is so arresting. What’s your take on this peculiar portrait? Curator: As a materialist, I immediately look to the process. Duchenne's project was rooted in scientific methodology; using photography as a tool to document and categorize human emotion through induced muscular contractions. Editor: Induced? So, the expression isn't natural? Curator: Exactly. He used electric currents to stimulate specific facial muscles. It’s important to consider the power dynamic here: Duchenne, the scientist, acting upon the body of the subject. The "voluntary" in the title becomes fraught. This wasn't about capturing natural expressions but dissecting them, reducing them to component parts. Editor: It makes the image much more unsettling, knowing it’s manufactured. What does this imply for our understanding of photography and its cultural context? Curator: It challenges the presumed objectivity of the photographic medium. Photography in this era was seen as a purely objective way to record. Duchenne is showing that the photograph can be manipulated, staged, used to reinforce ideas about science, about the body. Furthermore, it blurs the boundaries between science, art, and even spectacle. Who was this made for, and how was it consumed? Editor: So it’s less about the final image and more about the whole system of production that creates it? Curator: Precisely. The photographic process itself—the labor, the apparatus, the scientific theory – all become central to understanding what this image means and how it functions within the culture of the time. Editor: That definitely changes how I view the image. Now I'm more critical of the narrative around objective truth in image-making. Curator: Indeed, a crucial awareness for any student of art.