["Cadet's new quarters", 'Observatory'] before 1890

This photographic print of Cadet's new quarters and the Observatory was made by Edward H. Hart. The magic of photography lies in its chemical processes. Silver halide crystals, suspended in gelatin, capture light and shadow, translated here into a grayscale image. Unlike painting, the material is both indexical and reproducible; it captures a specific moment in time, but can also be replicated endlessly. This aligns with the mindset of progress and technical innovation, reflecting the societal attitude that propelled photography into a popular medium. The very act of capturing these scenes – the cadet quarters and observatory – speaks to institutional power and control. Buildings like these, built with bricks fired in industrial kilns, speak to the larger infrastructures of labor and governance, even militarization. Thinking about materials and making helps us appreciate that even a seemingly straightforward image can be understood as part of a much larger web of social forces.