Accidents, Anarchism, Calamity: Picturing British Disaster 1864-1939.

The mutual development of modernity with the photographic medium in turn-of-the-century Britain intersected with events of anarchy, natural and industrial disasters, urban tragedies, and a global pandemic. From the Clerkenwell explosion and mining disasters to World War I Zeppelin raids, the Spanish influenza and the Crystal Palace fire, the media recorded such events for the public in news articles increasingly accompanied by visual media such as drawings, engravings and later - photographs. This research project considers the ways in which the visual record was used to inform the public of such events, and the changing aesthetics of such images driven by technological advancements, public desire, and media practice. Enhancing the sense of spectacle driven by media and political propaganda, a burgeoning visual culture brought catastrophe and disaster into the homes of millions via the production of stereo views, postcards, and the illustrated news.

Image: Henry Bedford Lemere, Clerkenwell Gaol Explosion, December 13, 1867, V&A Collection.