Untitled (Group sticking heads through a sheet) c. 1910

This sepia-toned photograph captures a group sticking their heads through a sheet, made by an anonymous artist. I love how this image has a kind of DIY aesthetic, like something you might dream up in your backyard. There’s a playful, theatrical quality to it, imagining what it might have been like to create this setup. What were they thinking when they wrangled everyone together? I can imagine the sheet being hoisted up and each person poking their head through to take part in the creation of the image. Then one person is holding up an American flag behind the sheet, and another holding up an umbrella. There's this sense of humor and absurdity that reminds me of some of my favourite works by artists such as John Baldessari, who also played with photography, performance, and the absurd. And it emphasizes how artists, even anonymous ones, are in conversation, and exchange of ideas. It's a simple, low-tech setup, yet it becomes this funny, embodied expression that invites all sorts of interpretations.