authenticity and indexicality – the acceptance of a photograph as a visual trace of a fact – were allied stresses acting upon the culture of photography in the mid-to-late 1800s. authenticity and indexicality were the free radicals both sustaining and attacking its status and value. this exhibition project is part of a body of research looking at this theme in the photographic practices of two late nineteenth / early twentieth century ulster photographers - william fee mckinney and james glass.
william fee mckinney (1835 – 1917) was a small landowner and a farmer in his family home of sentry hill, carnmoney, county antrim, and an amateur photographer who took many photographs of his family, his neighbours and other members of his local rural community from the 1880s to the 1910s. here specifically the exhibition looks at how William McKinney’s domestic photographic albums - which one could expect to include his own photographs of his sentry hill family and community - also included within their community of images examples of mass produced photography from this period, such as cartes de visite of the royal family or statesmen, or early postcard images of aborginals, such as that of wilmot abraham featured here, that were sent across the globe to be included in a county antrim photo album.
james glass (1847 – 1931) was a professional photographer in derry, active from 1875, producing countless examples of photographic studio portraiture. he also produced what is now known as the glass album - two extant albums of photographs featuring scenes of rural destitution and extremes of rural poverty in west donegal in the 1870s and 1880s. here specifically the exhibition looks at how james glass’ west donegal photographs featured as part of the community of images within the penny illustrated paper and illustrated times, a magazine produced in london and widely, nationally distributed.
the exhibition project is aimed at beginning a conversation, at starting to make visible, the layering of meaning in their photographic practices and how they related to the wider visual and photographic culture of the period. this exhibition averts its gaze and its intent away from any alleged assuredness of the claim of authenticity within the facsimile reproductions or digital surrogates of these archive photographs available online from their place in national or regional museum collections, and instead investigates the fragmented trace - the manual trace and the digital trace. and the exhibition further foregrounds their contemporaneous community of images, through including alongside these works related to glass and mckinney, another contemporaneous photograph album of the period, an example of how the photography of the period was being fragmented and traced by its consumers, through an anonymous photo-collage album produced in Britain at this time.
the exhibition features three bodies of work:
i. manual trace of fragments from four issues of the penny illustrated paper and illustrated times published in 1889 that featured, and then commented upon, james glass’ west donegal photographs.
ii. a handmade album of photocollages from the 1880s by an unknown maker – and one photograph related to it from another source. each page consists of photographs cut out and glued onto an elaborate ink drawing. digital downloads of these pages have recently been made available online copyright free in the open content program of the j. paul getty museum, los angeles.
iii. a collection of images and traces featuring and related to the portrait photograph circa 1903 of the aboriginal wilmot abraham seated on a stool with pipe in his mouth. he has a grey beard, wears a hat and holds a cane in his left hand. wilmot abraham (corwhorong) was a well-known identity in the warrnambool area of victoria, australia. he was frequently photographed, and was popularly, if not necessarily correctly, referred to as “the last of his tribe”, such as in the postcard version of the photograph that is contained in william mckinney’s county antrim album.
continues at verbal arts centre, derry to 23.11.18
the empire of the senses 