Misses Laura, Emily, Eva, and Edith c. 1860

Lady Filmer took this photographic portrait of the four Misses, Laura, Emily, Eva, and Edith, using the wet collodion process that was popular at the time. It involved coating a glass plate with chemicals, exposing it in a camera, and then developing it immediately. Consider the labor embedded within the image; not just the photographer’s, but also the labor of the sitters, made visible through their stiff poses. And then there's the implied labor of dressmaking. These intricate garments, likely crafted from cotton woven in industrial mills, speak volumes about Victorian society and the intricate web of production and consumption. Photography offered the emerging middle classes a new form of memorialization and display. "Misses Laura, Emily, Eva, and Edith" offers insight into Victorian society, blurring boundaries between art, industry, and lived experience.