Charcot, a mentor of Sigmund Freud, performed many acts of hypnosis on his female patients before subjecting them to examinations for hysteria.
An image of Charcot conducting these tests hangs above Freud’s couch at his study in London, a copy of which Collishaw has used in this work. Charcot altered the condition of his patient before arriving at an evaluation of their condition.
Similarly, this anamorphosis presents a distorted image, only readable through the reflection in the mirrored cylinder.