Photography and Facial Difference: The Ethics of Emerging Medical Collections from the Great War

This book draws on a rich set of materials to examine postwar experiences of ex-servicemen who were facially-disfigured during the First World War. Weaving together medical, institutional, amateur and family photographic albums under a social history framework, Jason Bate underscores overlooked aspects of these men’s continued hardships after returning home from the front. In particular, a focus is on the private sphere of the family and the complicated world of employment that disfigured veterans navigated on their return.

Little attention has hitherto been paid to the aftercare of disfigured veterans once discharged from the army, or the long-term impact on individuals, and the sense of burden felt by families and local communities. In addressing this neglected area, the chapters here illuminate different practices of photography by doctors, nurses, press agencies, and families across the generations to challenge our perceptions of the personal traumas of soldiers and civilians.

Jason Bate is Lecturer in Histories and Theories of Photography at the University of Exeter, UK.