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These photographic mug shots from Sydney police records (1912-1930) are nothing short of spectacular.  Intended as informal portraits of the convict in a sort-of relaxed setting, a second portrait was included to show the person as they might look on the street.  The portraits are fantastically full of life; but the second images, the informal full-lengths, are extremely disturbing, as in a naive-disturbia:  there’s usually some sort of darkness with an awkward distance between the subject and the little else that is in the shot (cell door, chair, stain on the floor, guard), a loneliness, a location of uncomfortable space.  It looks as though there are all sorts of images-within-images here, photographs readymade for exploration.

For a thorough discussion of the series see the excellent article “Public eye, private eye: Sydney police mug shots, 1912-1930”, by Peter Doyle, in  Scan Journal (vol 2 number 3 December 2005)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there are photos like this, below, where the annotations become part of the art of the image:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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