Jesus, the state of those dresses. I hope those are “work” clothes, but have a very bad feeling that’s their only clothes.
For late XIX’th century working class those would be their only clothes usually.
EDIT: Putting this in contrast with photos of the inhabitants of the valley my ancestors from paternal side are from (which were mostly all murdered in 1915), I can see from where all the pride about that place came and also envy of the surrounding Muslims and the particular word it was renamed into Turkish (something like “mansions”). In terms of clothes being clean and whole those photos look amazing, and many-story stone houses and such. Just not as amazing when looking at them from XXI-century city perspective.
“The real cause of poverty is too much labor regulation!”
Those are some hard eyes. Seven years old going on 40.
Serves them right for not forming a union.
What has happened to their hands?
I actually know a bit of backstory about this photo - it was a series on child labor in the south, and these are photos of oyster shuckers for the Maggioni Canning Co. around 1911.
I’m assuming shucking oysters are rough on the hands, so it could be wounds, but it also looks like crusted-on dirt, so I’m not sure.
Here’s another photo where you can see their hands a bit better:
And here’s the original untouched photo:
I just wanted to add about the stares. Photos back then required the target to be very still ao they are just probably trying their best to keep still.
Most photos of children failed because they moved. These were very still, hence the tension in their eyes, or just a lucky shot. Anyways, photos from way back always look like death for this reason.
Reminds me of the grim (or beautiful, depending on how you look at it) practice of photographing the deceased, especially children, during the Victorian era. Dressed up and posed, sometimes with living family in the same photo. Part of the reason being the exact fact that they wouldn’t move during the shot.
If it isn’t AI (geeze have to question everything now), I would hazard a guess that it could be various injuries from textile machines or something.
It could also be just standard “major ouchies incurred as children” but grew back oddly due to lack of access to medical care.
This image has been around a long time, it’s not AI. The girls are (IIRC) oyster shuckers. So hand injuries are gonna be a thing.
