Fountains Abbey. Interior of the Choir 1850s

Editor: We're looking at Joseph Cundall's "Fountains Abbey. Interior of the Choir" from the 1850s, a gelatin silver print. The sheer scale of the abbey ruins is impressive. What strikes you most about it? Curator: I'm drawn to the processes that shaped both the abbey and the photograph. Consider the labor: the medieval stonemasons who quarried, transported, and carved each block, compared to Cundall's chemical manipulations and darkroom techniques. Both involved intense, skilled work to produce this image. Editor: So you're seeing a connection between the physical making of the abbey and the making of the print? Curator: Absolutely. And both are embedded in systems of power and economics. The abbey reflects medieval religious authority and land ownership, while the photograph hints at Victorian-era technological advancements and a burgeoning tourist industry consuming picturesque ruins. Editor: I hadn't thought about the tourism aspect. Do you think the figures in the foreground are meant to emphasize that? Curator: In part, yes, and they also give scale. But think about the accessibility of the image itself – photography democratized access to such views, even while the means of production were controlled by a different elite. How does the mass production and consumption of photographs influence the perception and even the "value" of a place like Fountains Abbey? Editor: That's a great point. It changes our relationship to it, from a remote religious site to something easily reproducible. Seeing it this way shifts my understanding of the photograph itself. It becomes not just a representation, but a product of its own time. Curator: Precisely. The photograph becomes an artifact that participates in the very social and economic conditions it depicts. Both the abbey and photograph expose different forms of labor and consumption of material.