Sarah Ball 'Accused: Part 1'

S A R A H B A L L | A C C U S E D

In the 19th Century the social sciences of anthropology, ethnology and 

sociology all gained legitimacy. Photography was used to document such 

studies and seen to embody the new authority of empiricism. 

Police photographic archives record the faces of the ‘accused’. Used to evidence 

the pathology of crime and criminals, photography was thought to connect 

outward physical appearance and inner character traits. In essence it was 

believed good people ‘looked good’ and morally bad people ‘looked ugly’. 

They searched for; “The harmony of moral beauty and physical beauty… the 

science of discovering the relation between the exterior and interior – between 

the visible surface and the invisible spirit it covers…” Johann Kasper Lavater. 

(Essays on Physiognomy: Designed to Promote the Knowledge and Love of Mankind. Vol 

1. London. John Murray 1789) 

Photographic images however are not objective statements of fact. They are 

subjective representations of the truth interpreted but the camera, the viewer 

and now, the painter. 

The work in this exhibition is sourced primarily from police criminal archives 

– I am interested in the act of translation; from the apparent certainty of the 

photographic record to the malleable quality of paint, my work calls into 

question history, memory and story. 

Sarah Ball 2012

Thief (Of Fur Coat) 

oil on gessoed panel . 18 x 13 cm 

2

3

4

Vagrant 


5

Burglar 


6

7

Activist 

8 

oil on gessoed panel . 18 x 13 cm

Female Impersonator 


9

Thief 


10

11

12

Abortionist 


13

Conspirator & Co Conspirator 

oil on gessoed panel . diptych . 18 x 13 cm each 

14

15

16

Informers 


17

Sly Grogger 


18

19

20

Vagrant 


21

Unknown 

22 


Unknown 


23

24

Gang Member 


25

Traitor 


26

27

Illegalist 

28 


Anarchist 


29

Assailant 


30

31

Prostitute 

32 


Prostitute 


33

Gang Member 


34

35

36

Male Impersonator 


37

Gangster 


38

39

Fraudster 

40 


Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘Accused’ by Sarah Ball 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form 

or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers 

Publication produced by Impact Printing Services (www.impactprintingservices.co.uk) 

Interview Film by Alban Roinard and Joseph Clarke 

ISBN 978-1-905772-54-4 

M I L L E N N I U M 

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Sarah Ball 'Accused: Part 1'

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