Afgietsel van een slachtoffer van de vulkaanuitbarsting in Pompeï c. 1860 - 1900

Editor: So this gelatin-silver print, titled "Afgietsel van een slachtoffer van de vulkaanuitbarsting in Pompeï," made sometime between 1860 and 1900 by Giorgio Sommer, is striking. It's a photograph of a plaster cast, I assume, of a Pompeii victim. It’s really raw and visceral. How do you see this photograph, especially considering when it was made? Curator: I see this work as deeply rooted in the social and material conditions of its production. Think about the labour involved, both ancient and modern. The violent, eruptive process which created the void and the creation of the cast represent very different forms of production, or, perhaps more accurately, re-production. We are observing an industrially reproducible object of an accident. Editor: Industrially reproducible… that's interesting. It is strange to consider an image of death so clinically. Is it fair to assume these casts held a different meaning for viewers then, in the 19th century? Curator: Absolutely. The 19th century saw the rise of archaeological tourism and a growing fascination with the 'ancient world.' These casts became commodities, mementos of a tragic past but also of a kind of historical discovery. They blurred the lines between art, science, and spectacle. Did this commodification, in your opinion, diminish the respect due to those who were subjected to this cataclysm? Editor: I hadn’t considered the ethics of display… It makes you wonder about whose story is really being told, and what the cost of knowledge can be. Thank you for that perspective. Curator: Indeed, it brings light to the act of photographic representation.