The Unfamiliar (E-Journal)

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Meilutė-Svinkūnienė, Ieva

The Unfamiliar60
WILLIAM CARRICK 
(1827 - 1878) 
One of the first visual anthropologists of Russia
BY IEVA MEILUTĖ-SVINKŪNIENĖ
The Unfamiliar 61
Most people today, when thinking about Russia’s past, are influenced by the bril-
liant literary works, such as the novels by Fyo-
dor Dostoyevsky, in which the life of 19th cen-
tury Russia was described in vivid and detailed 
words. But there is also visual material that of-
fers much insight into the Russian way of life 
at the time, as depicted in 19th century paint-
ings, drawings and photographs. In the 1860s, 
series of photographs produced in Moscow 
and St. Petersburg portrayed members of the 
working class while performing daily life ac-
tivities such as drinking tea, washing clothes, 
playing or crossing themselves, while others 
were photographed carrying out their profes-
sions, for example, offering goods or sharpen-
ing knives (Brawn n.d.). 
The photographic legacy of William Carrick 
is an excellent example of such work. Car-
rick was born in Edinburgh in 1827, but the 
following year his parents decided to move to 
Kronstadt, Russia, where his father prospered 
as a timber merchant. In 1844 Carrick moved 
to St. Petersburg where he studied architecture 
at the St. Petersburg Academy. Later he trav-
elled to Rome to pursue his interests in painting 
and drawing. On his return to Russia in 1857, 
Carrick was to discover that the family busi-
ness had been virtually ruined by the Crimean 
War. It was in the same year that he visited Ed-
inburgh where he met a young photographer, 
John MacGregor, and invited him to establish 
a photography studio together. In 1859 the two 
men set up a photo studio in the city centre of 
St. Petersburg at 19 Malaya Morskaya Street, a 
vibrant and prestigious area of the capital, near 
St. Isaac’s Cathedral. The partnership lasted 
for thirteen years until MacGregor’s death in 
1872. Carrick continued to work by himself 
until he passed away in 1878 (Brawn n.d.; Wa-
ters 2010).
St Petersburg in the 1850s and 1860s was not 
only the seat of the monarchy and the social lo-
cus of the Empire, it was also its photographic 
centre. Both Russian and foreign photographers 
were opening their studios, resulting in a very 
competitive environment. Due to the higher 
prices of photographic materials in Russia 
compared to Western Europe and the absence 
of a substantial middle class (the prime clien-
tele of mid-19th century photographers), the 
businesses never proved to be a great financial 
success (Brawn n.d.; Medišauskienė 2011).
Nonetheless, Carrick did manage to acquire 
some acclaim and financial security during his 
lifetime, which allowed him to develop his pas-
sion for photographing ordinary people – chim-
ney-sweepers, postmen, cab-drivers, abacus 
sellers, icemen, woodmen, and knife-grinders 
among others. Carrick asked them to pose for 
him in his studio and produced from the re-
sulting photographs Cartes-de-visite under the 
title Russian Types or sometimes Rasnoshchiki 
(Hawkers), which were primarily intended for 
the tourist market (Ralston 1870).
William Carrick very aptly captured the char-
acters of the locals, their physiognomy and their 
dress. Through posing, his subjects are mimick-
ing their own occupations. The way that people 
appear relaxed and look alive in these photo-
graphs suggests that the photographer cultivat-
ed good relations with his subjects. There was 
a worldwide trend to approach photography in 
the tradition of paintings and printmaking of the 
time and many of Carrick’s photographs are sty-
listically reminiscent of paintings by Ilya Repin 
and Ivan Kramskoi from the same era (Waters 
2010). 
Throughout Russia, there were photographers 
such as J. Monstein, Alfred Lorens and H. Lau-
rent, but also Russian artists M.B. Tulinov, A..I. 
Denjer and V.V. Stasov, who similarly depicted 
representatives of different Russian ethnicities 
(Rossijskaja nacional’naja biblioteka 2006). 
Yet, despite huge competition, William Car-
rick managed to win the favour of the Grand 
Duke Nikolai Aleksandrovich as well as that of 
the subjects of his photography. To this day he 
is nationally and internationally renowned for 
his ethnographic photography, a work that re-
mains a significant document of Russian folk 
heritage. uf
ISSN: 2050-778X
The Unfamiliar62
The Unfamiliar 63ISSN: 2050-778X
The Unfamiliar64
All photographs courtesy of the Lithuanian Art Museum
The Unfamiliar 65
Brawn, B. (n.d.) Russian types [online]. Available 
at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29482804@N06/
sets/72157607923976531/comments/ [accessed 22 Sep-
tember 2012].
Ralston, W. R. S. (1870) ‘A few Russian photo-
graphs.’ Good Words, 1 October 1870, p. 667-673. 
Available at: http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/
image/17453133361451793802658/ [accessed 21 Sep-
tember 2012].
Medišauskienė, Z. (2011) ‘XIX amžius pasaulyje, 
Europoje ir Lietuvoje.’ P. 15-34 in Lietuvos istorija. 
Devynioliktas amžius: visuomenė ir valdžia. Lietuvos is-
torijos institutas.
Rossijskaja nacional’naja biblioteka (2006) Jetnogra-
ficheskij zhanr v russkoj fotografii 1860-e - 1900-e gg. 
[online]. Available at: http://www.nlr.ru/exib/inv/etno.
htm [accessed 25 September 2012].
Waters, E. (2010) An introduction to William Carrick 
[online]. Available at: http://houseofmirthphotos.blog-
spot.com/2010/11/introduction-to-william-carrick-1827.
html [accessed 21 September 2012].
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ISSN: 2050-778X


English

WILLIAM CARRICK (1827-1878) ONE OF THE FIRST VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS OF RUSSIA

Fras, Jona

The Unfamiliar 05
LET
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In the past years and decades, even supposedly basic economic concepts – such as 
money, debt, and indeed, capital – have come to appear ever more elusive, affect-
ing and transforming the lives of millions of people while escaping any firm defini-
tion. The variety of meanings and imaginaries assigned to these concepts by people 
grappling with their origins, their nature, and their effects, is dazzling and stunning. 
Anthropological ways of thinking can help us understand such social and cultural 
creations, as attested by the articles in this issue of The Unfamiliar. The essays on 
urban planning in Malaysia and the links between technology literacy and college 
access in the U.S. offer inspiring alternatives to conventional ways of thinking about 
society and economics. The three pieces of our special focus section, dealing with 
transformations in Greek society following the debt crisis, together with the article 
on understandings of the economic field among U.S. conservatives demonstrate how 
ordinary people engage directly with abstract fields such as ‘the economy’. Finally, 
the two visual anthropology pieces offer glimpses of ‘capital’ hiding at the margins 
of mainstream economic flows. All in all, this issue demonstrates that ‘specialists’ in 
capital are not the only ones that have a right to say anything about it, and that we are 
all entitled to have a voice in the processes of transforming capital.
Jona Fras
Volume 2, Issue 2
TRANSFORMING CAPITAL
ISSN: 2050-778X


TRANSFORMING CAPITAL

Smith, Celine

The Unfamiliar48
SWEDISH EXILE
BY CELINE SMITH
Hopes & Dreams
The Unfamiliar 49
C
ELIN
E SM
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During a project in Damascus, covering Iraqi refugees stranded in Syria, it was apparent that most of them hoped for resettlement. 
Mehyar, an Iraqi Palestinian, was resettled from Syria to Forshaga; a 
remote town in Warmland, Sweden. I visited him to understand the 
complexities behind the resettlement. 
Sweden’s seemingly utopian social system attracts refugees from 
many countries. Most refugees are deeply scarred by their experience 
in their home countries; resettlement represents an enormous chal-
lenge – being moved so far from surroundings familiar to them.
The outcome of the project is a series of portraits of Mehyar and other 
refugees I met in Forshaga, such as Htoo and Noella. 
All photos by Celine Smith
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HTOO
“When I was in Thailand at least I was someone, I was a nurse. Here, I 
feel like I’m nobody.”
I met Htoo in Forshaga. She is a Karen, one of the minorities based in 
Burma, also known as Myanmar. Her mother left Htoo and her sister 
with their father to join the Karen Liberation Army. Following perse-
cution, many Karen people have fled to Thailand. Htoo and her family 
soon joined them and settled in a UNHCR camp on the border separat-
ing the two countries. Htoo and her mother worked hard to support her 
sister’s education.  
The Unfamiliar 51
NOELLA
“La vie c’est compliquée. Il faut commencer a zero. La verité a propos 
de l’immigration est que personne ne dit toute la verité.” 
“Life is complicated, you have to start from a scratch. The truth about 
immigration - nobody tells the whole truth.”
Noella is Burundiese and talks about the future Sweden holds for her 
daughters, not the past in Burundi . Her two girls are aged 14 and 16, 
both speak English and Swedish fluently. Noella, on the other hand, 
struggles to find her place in the small town of Forshaga.   


SWEDISH EXILE

Crofton, Claire

Wesser, Grit

GROWING FAMILIAR WITH UNCERTAINTY

Chrysagis, Evangelos

The Unfamiliar10
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Glasgow was recently announced as a UNESCO City of Music, with its music 
scene generating for the local economy £75 
million a year. However, the city’s musical land-
scape has remained largely unexplored, while 
the sporadic, non-ethnographic literature has 
been mainly preoccupied with local music his-
tory, rather than the vast array of contempo-
rary, everyday music practices that provide the 
bedrock of Glasgow’s prolific music scene. My 
fieldwork focused upon musicians in the mar-
gins of the industry and specifically upon the 
so-called ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) music practices 
in order to examine the politics of grassroots 
music participation and the local knowledge 
that informs creativity. My thesis is an account 
of the explicit music practices, the conventions 
and constraints relevant to the experience of 
music-making, as well as the meaning of music 
as collective action. By employing three case 
studies - a band, a music promoter and a music 
collective/record label - I seek to demonstrate 
that DIY music-making emerged as a socially 
meaningful practice and process. Furthermore, 
these examples were indicative of the wider 
practical considerations and moral implica-
tions pertinent to the DIY mode of conduct, but 
also illustrated the fluid and contested nature of 
local perspectives on ‘ethical’ music-making.
A SENSE OF TOGETHERNESS
BY EVANGELOS CHRYSAGIS
THE D.I.Y. MUSIC COMMUNITY IN GLASGOW
FIGURE 1
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Several local bands occasionally employed stage clothing. Wearing specific clothes or 
costumes, makeup or body paint, highlight-
ed music performance as a form of spectacle. 
Despite that in most DIY events musicians 
were plainly dressed, there were instances 
where either ready-made masks were used, 
or considerable effort had been put by bands 
into preparing hand-made costumes and ap-
plying elaborate makeup. This was espe-
cially the case with ‘themed’ gigs or events. 
The resulting metamorphoses often bordered 
on the parodic and the grotesque (Figures 1, 2 & 
3), but this deliberate theatricality had also the 
effect of fostering a different kind of atmosphere 
amongst audience members: one of my infor-
mants noted that people in the audience expect-
ed something ‘different’ if the band was dressed 
up, thus stressing the importance of the onstage 
performance rather than the actual music played. 
At other times, it served a practical function, 
such as holding a microphone in place (Figure 4).
The fact that some of the individuals engaging 
in this practice were Art students or graduates, 
might explain the inclination to produce such 
materials in order to enhance their onstage per-
formance repertoire. Although it would be dif-
ficult to claim that these specific music events 
represented particular kinds of socially-produc-
tive rituals, the creative synthesis and presenta-
tion of these artefacts was nevertheless an effec-
tive form of communication with the audience, 
as well as an expression of the widely held view 
amongst the local DIY network that a music event 
was first and foremost a social occasion.
FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3
The Unfamiliar12
The Unfamiliar 13
FIGURE 4
“WEARING SPECIFIC CLOTHES OR COSTUMES,
MAKEUP OR BODY PAINT, HIGHLIGHTED
MUSIC PERFORMANCE AS A FORM 
OF SPECTACLE.”


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WILLIAM CARRICK (1827-1878) ONE OF THE FIRST VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS OF RUSSIA

TRANSFORMING CAPITAL

SWEDISH EXILE

GROWING FAMILIAR WITH UNCERTAINTY

A SENSE OF TOGETHERNESS

ARCHEOLOGY & THE UNCERTAIN EDGE

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