Vertiginous doubt: curating photographies, opacities, communities and constructing identities in the photographic practices of William Fee McKinney (1832-1917) and James Glass (1847-1931)

Abstract

This thesis documents and interrogates the research leading to my curated exhibition Counterfeit online at thedollhouse.space in 2020/2021.

This curatorial project interrogates two examples of early domestic and early studio photography in Ulster. The work of domestic photographer William Fee McKinney (1832-1917) is held in original albums at the Sentry Hill Museum, County Antrim, Northern Ireland; and as glass plate negatives at the National Museums of Northern Ireland. Examples of studio practice from the Derry studio of photographer James Glass (1847-1931) are held in private collections and held as digital and analogue copies at the Magee Community Collection in Ulster University Special Collections.

This thesis examines how curatorial practice, engaged in as a comparative study, can indicate elements in the discourse of early photography shared across these contemporaneous examples of early studio photographic practice and early domestic photographic practice. The thesis identifies and interrogates elements in the discourse of contemporary curating that can illuminate and refract the discourse of early domestic photography and early studio photography. Curated interventions resituate these photographic collections not as discrete elements in the history of early photography but as related strands in the visual economy of early photography, making apparent strategies of curation and display in the origins, circulation and communication of these collections and resituating how these examples of early domestic and early studio photography are curated, communicated and given meaning.

Date of Award	Jul 2022
Original language	English
Supervisor	Gail Baylis (Supervisor) & Sarah Edge (Supervisor)