Reverse Panopticon
This installation was developed for my exhibition Liquid Silver at Compton Verney that ran from October 2023 - February 2024.
The portraits were made using a large-scale antique camera with residents of Nuneaton and Bedworth who shared their histories in one-hour long portrait sessions at Nuneaton Library. The people represented in these portraits are a self-selecting group of individuals who wanted to be photographed and talk about their histories and memories of place.
Portraits were made on clear glass as ambrotypes using the wet plate collodion process. Wet plate collodion superseded the daguerreotype in 1851 and involves using a silver nitrate solution as the light sensitive material, bonded to a glass surface with collodion and egg white. The process involved building a small darkroom at the library to process the images in that functioned to generate curiosity in the activity.
The process of making these images became a collaborative public performance on the street in Nuneaton. A three-way conversation between people, materials and the camera, facilitated by the history and age of the camera. The sensitive surfaces of the glass plates, carefully handled, revealed fascinating stories of peoples lives.
The installation involves a rotating light that plays off the reflective silver surface of the image, reversing tones from negative to positive and rendering each person visible in turn, revolving through the network of locally connected individuals, often seen through each other. The installation operates as the reverse of Bentham’s Panopticon, commonly cited in photographic theory since its inclusion as an all seeing observational device in Foucault’s Discipline and Punish.
With thanks to everyone who came forward to support this project, including assistants from BA Photography at Coventry University, Ruby Nixon and Samipya Bagde.
This project was a partnership between Compton Verney, Coventry Biennial and Warwickshire Libraries, aimed at developing new opportunities for artists and communities in Warwickshire and the West Midlands through a 6-month artist residency that ran from April – October 2023.
Installation images by Tegen Kimberley
Colour documentary by Ruby Nixon
Black and White documentary by Samipya Bagde