Elf kalkoenen in een kooi c. 1900 - 1940

Richard Tepe made this photograph of eleven turkeys in a cage at an unknown date with a sepia-toned effect. I wonder about the choice to focus on these fowl in this way. Are they emblems of something? I can imagine Tepe watching these turkeys with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. Maybe he was drawn to their strange beauty, or perhaps he saw them as symbols of something larger, like the human condition itself! Think of them as a kind of mirror reflecting our own quirks and foibles. That one white turkey in the centre is a bold statement, and draws your eye, doesn't it? It offers a focal point amidst the repeated forms of the brown turkeys. This act reminds me that all artists are in dialogue, speaking to one another across time through their art.