Gezicht op de Victoria Bridge over de Irwell in Manchester before 1878

Alfred Brothers captured the "Gezicht op de Victoria Bridge over de Irwell in Manchester," using photography, a medium still relatively new at the time. Brothers operated in a Victorian England that was expanding and industrializing. Look at how the bridge dominates the image. What does this structural marvel mean? Is it a testament to progress or a symbol of power? As infrastructure developed, so did social inequalities. Urban spaces were being reshaped along class lines. Photography like this, while seemingly objective, played a role in documenting and sometimes glorifying these changes. Consider the lives of the workers who built this bridge, their labor often unseen and unacknowledged. Brothers’ photograph invites us to reflect on the complex relationship between industrial advancement and social justice, urging us to consider whose stories are told and whose are left out of the frame.