A disability theater group in Surrey, England, is using 19th-century photographic techniques to recreate portraits from Victorian-era medical casebooks, offering a powerful commentary on how society has historically viewed and documented people with disabilities. The Freewheelers group, based in Leatherhead, is working with historians and photographers to reproduce images using the same Victorian tintype process that was originally employed in mental health hospitals throughout the 1800s.
The tintype technique, which creates photographic images on glass or metal plates, was widely used in various mental health facilities across Surrey during the Victorian period. In 1990, the Surrey History Centre made a significant discovery at Manor Hospital, uncovering containers filled with glass plate negatives of former patients. These historical photographs provide a glimpse into how medical institutions documented individuals with mental health conditions and disabilities more than a century ago.
Following a successful initial project in 2023, the Freewheelers group has expanded their efforts, now collaborating with both the Surrey History Centre in Woking and King's College London to recreate 35 additional historical images. This ambitious project, known as "Us and Them," aims to spark public discussions about discrimination and challenge contemporary understanding of disability, particularly through visual representation.
Alana Harris, a historian and professor at King's College London, provides crucial historical context for the project. "A hundred years ago, these photographs were taken without consent, for purposes of classification and diagnosis and indeed, oftentimes, stigmatization," Harris explained. Surrey was home to more mental hospitals than most other regions in England, making it a significant location for this type of historical documentation.
The modern recreations involve careful pairing between contemporary Freewheelers members and historical subjects from the original photographs. Alice Scott, a member of the disability theater group, chose to recreate the portrait of Rose Harris, a woman who was confined to Manor Hospital in Epsom in 1910 and tragically died in 1917, ultimately buried in a pauper burial plot. Similarly, Pete Messer selected Frederick Tarrant, a workhouse survivor who spent 15 years in various asylums, as his historical counterpart for the photographic recreation.
The technical process of creating these modern tintypes remains true to the Victorian method, with each photograph requiring exactly eight seconds to shoot. Emma Brown, the photographer leading the technical aspects of the project, captures the magic of the historical process. "The magic bit is where the excess silver clears off the plate, it still gets me excited after years of doing this process," Brown said, highlighting the continued fascination with this 19th-century photographic technique.
The project's timing connects to broader conversations about historical representation and disability rights. The creative sessions are scheduled to run during the first two weeks of December and coincide with a high-profile Christie's auction featuring similar historical medical images. By placing the modern portraits alongside their Victorian counterparts, the project creates a powerful visual dialogue about how society's perception of disability has evolved over the past century while also examining persistent challenges and discrimination that continue today.
