Art Inquiries
Abstract
Histories of the origins of photography are dominated by men, but the lesser-known contributions of women, such as the British chemist Elizabeth Fulhame, were fundamental to its success. Fulhame’s eighteenth-century chemical experiments directly contributed to the birth of photography, however, she is either totally obscured, or only briefly footnoted, in foundational texts on the history of photography. Her obscuration is heightened by the complete absence of any surviving images of her - she is, quite literally, invisible within a medium whose history privileges the visible.
This paper charts my practice-led research that used AI generative imaging to create speculative portraits of Fulhame to address her invisibility. However, the AI process drew upon on the billions of invisible images within AI imaging data sets – their provenance as mysterious as Fulhame herself. This complication drew the eighteenth‑century figure of Elizabeth Fulhame and her proto‑photographic experiments into conversation with twenty‑first‑century algorithmic, post‑photographic practices. The resulting work, Things I Can’t See from Places I Can’t Be: Elizabeth Fulhame illuminates resonances between both ends of the photographic timeline and reveals the enduring interplay of visibility and invisibility within photographic practice and ontology, women’s contributions to the medium over its history, and the value of embodied practice-led research.
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Recommended Citation
Hamilton, Yvette. "Conjuring Elizabeth Fulhame: Using AI To Depict the Invisible Woman from the Dawn of Photography.." 20, 1 (2025). https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/artinquiries_secacart/vol20/iss1/5
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