Bad Camouflage 2016

This photograph, Bad Camouflage, it’s by Elina Brotherus, and well, it kind of speaks for itself, doesn't it? I love the kind of double-take it gives you. At first glance, it's like, "Oh, floral wallpaper." But then, bam! There's a real person blending—or rather, trying to blend—into the background. I’m thinking about the process the artist went through. There’s some intention, I think, in the badness of the camouflage – I mean, the way the dress almost works, but doesn’t, throws the whole picture off in this really interesting way. You can see Elina Brotherus trying on her camera; I imagine her looking through the lens again and again, finding the perfect way to show us the game she is playing. And doesn't it make you think about all the ways we try to fit in, or disappear, or maybe just play with who we are? It's like a funny, slightly awkward dance between the self and the world. Artists—photographers, painters, all of us—we're always playing with these ideas, pushing and pulling, seeing what sticks.