November 15, 2019 - February 15, 2020
Photography as a medium was of particular importance in Edinburgh during the Mid-19th Century because the city was undergoing a transformation in architecture and design. The construction of the city’s New Town needed to be justified, and one of best ways of doing this was through the ‘factual’ photograph.
The images in this exhibition were received as fact at the time. Photography was a new medium of visual communication and a rather scientific way of imaging the world. Photographers had the ability to persuade and lead a narrative through context and composition.