Fionn Montell-Boyd

Articles of silver: The political economy of material and the emergence of photography in Britain

Supervisor: Professor Geoffrey Batchen

My research examines the role of silver in photography in Britain between 1794 and 1841 from a political economic perspective. During this period, the light-sensitive properties of silver halide salts formed the basis of photographic experimentation. This project asks how early photographers’ access to silver shaped the development of the medium, addressing the value of the material across economic and aesthetic registers. These questions bring into the remit of the history of photography the colonial silver trade and the plantation complex, as well as silver’s central position within the economic structure of the British state.