19. Yüzyıl Ruhçuluğunda Teknolojik Medyumluk Biçimi Olarak Fotoğrafçılık

Abstract

The 19th century has been a shift in sight, observation and perception. It has been a change from the rational way of seeing to the subjective and physiological way of seeing, perception and expression. This century has been also a process for spiritualists who used their physiological bodies to communicate with spirits. Different disciplines and professions have been formed with the invention of photography. For this very reason, spiritualists have combined photography with physiology, and used technology as “mediums” to prove the visibility of spirits. Nevertheless, the 19th century has been also the exploitability of different disciplines and means of productions as much as their benefits. Spiritualists and spirit photographers have been denounced as impostors. However, spirit photography has endeavored to prove that a reality existed beyond the visible, and the visibility of spirits endorsed the spiritual narratives by invigorating the ties between technology, photography and observation. This article will document the arguments of the spiritualists, defenders and debunkers of the 19th century and portray their contribution to observation and subjectivity (mediumship) as much as spiritualism.