Grégoire. Alphonse. 27 ans, né à La Montagne (Loire-Inférieure). Mécanicien. Anarchiste. 2/7/94. 1894

Alphonse Bertillon took this mugshot of Grégoire Alphonse, a 27-year-old anarchist and mechanic, using photography in 1894. Photography, by the late 19th century, was rapidly changing from a craft-based practice to an industrial one. In this image, Bertillon used photography not as art but as a tool of the state. The flat lighting and direct gaze drain any sense of personality. This was part of Bertillon's "scientific" method of identifying criminals. But the act of capturing someone's likeness was also a way of controlling them. Consider Grégoire Alphonse: he was a mechanic, part of the industrial workforce, and an anarchist, someone who actively resisted state control. This photograph isn't just an image; it's a document of power, capturing a moment in the struggle between the individual and the ever-growing reach of the state. By understanding its making, we see the social and political forces at play in this seemingly simple photograph.