Untitled (boy wearing costume cowboy hat and holding gun) c. 1950

Editor: This is an untitled photograph by Lucian and Mary Brown depicting a child in a cowboy hat holding a toy gun. It’s striking, but given its subject matter I wonder about the context in which it was made? What’s your take? Curator: I see a focus on the production of identity, particularly how it’s consumed and performed. Consider the material: a photograph, a mass-produced image reflecting societal ideals of the "Wild West" and how it impacts the construction of self, even in childhood. The child's toy becomes a signifier of cultural consumption. Editor: So, it's less about the image itself and more about the process of how these toys and images shape our understanding? Curator: Precisely. It makes you consider the labor and resources that make that cowboy fantasy available and the social forces at play. Editor: That’s a really interesting lens to see it through. I appreciate that.