top of page

Henry Taunt's Greenhouse is a photographic project that reimagines the 'lost' archive of the Victorian photographer Henry Taunt. 

Henry Taunt died in 1922. On his centenary, I set out to shoot new portraits of people in Oxford that might replace the lost images from the Taunt archive. These valuable wet collodion negatives were lost when Taunt's studio, and his collection, were sold to a builder and the glass plates repurposed to use as greenhouse glass. 

Over seven months I photographed people that I met in Oxford, using a 5x4 camera. These images formed the first part of a photographic palimpsest as they were combined with images of Oxford's architecture and topography. The resulting images, ghostly in nature, symbolise the process of chasing the ghosts of the lost archive. 

Some of the resulting negatives were printed on glass using the silver gelatin process. You can see them here.

I want to thank Oxford History Centre for their support with the project.

Huge thanks to all the people who allowed me to photograph them for the project. 

01_Henry_Taunts_Greenhouse_JJ_Hunt_web.jpeg
bottom of page