Gezicht op Göschenen before 1900

This black-and-white photograph of Göschenen, Switzerland, was created by Speiser et Manissadjian, sometime in the late 19th century. It’s a reminder that photography, even at its outset, was not a neutral recording technology. Look at how the image isolates this village within the Alps. The village is a thin ribbon squeezed between the steep slopes. The high-vantage point allows us to see the railway lines that cut through the settlement: Göschenen was the northern access point to the Gotthard Rail Tunnel, opened in 1882. We might see this photograph as a celebration of modernity and Swiss engineering, or we might note the vulnerability of the population within this industrial landscape. To understand this image better, we might explore archives of engineering, transport, and tourism. By placing art within its social and institutional context, we can better understand the power of images.