Cornuault. Joseph. 17 ans, né à Angers (Maine & Loire). Peintre eu bâtiment. Anarchiste. 7/1/94. 1894

This is a photograph of Joseph Cornuault, made in 1894 by Alphonse Bertillon using photographic print on paper. Bertillon was a French police officer who pioneered forensic photography. This image is not simply a portrait, it's an example of photographic technology put to work within a system of social control. The seemingly neutral medium of photography is here employed to categorize and document individuals, specifically those deemed to be outside the norms of society. We see written on the image that Cornuault was a 17-year-old building painter and an anarchist; these details were crucial for Bertillon's system of identification. It's a reminder that even the most apparently objective techniques are always embedded in specific social and political contexts. The photograph's value resides not just in its aesthetic qualities, but in the complex web of power, labor, and identity that it represents. It blurs the boundaries between art, science, and social history.