Card Number 132, Emma Carson, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-4) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

Editor: So this is card number 132, a portrait of Emma Carson, from the Actors and Actresses series issued by Duke Sons & Co. in the 1880s. It’s a small photography print. It strikes me as rather risqué for the time. What do you see in it? Curator: I see a confluence of performance, commodification, and labor. The material itself, a cheap cigarette card, speaks volumes. Consider the industrial processes required to produce millions of these: the harvesting of tobacco, the mass printing of images, the labor of the actresses themselves. It’s all part of a vast system of production and consumption. Editor: Consumption? So you're saying this isn't really about art? Curator: Exactly! It’s about marketing and creating desire. Emma Carson’s image, readily available with a pack of cigarettes, transforms her into a consumer good, a desirable object packaged and sold. The materiality of the card, its disposability, highlights this fleeting moment of capitalist desire. Editor: It’s interesting you point that out. So, while it resembles a portrait, it's more about the material and commercial context. Curator: Precisely. We should ask: who owned the means of representing Emma Carson? Who profited from her image, and what labor conditions underpinned the manufacturing of these cards and the performance itself? The seemingly innocent image is embedded in networks of power. Editor: This gives me so much to think about, and completely reshapes my perception. Thanks for helping me unpack it all. Curator: The devil, as always, is in the details of the production line. Considering the materials of art and how it’s consumed provides critical context for deeper investigation.