The Fairy Wedding Party. Mr. & Mrs. Genl. Tom Thumb, Commodore Nutt, Minnie Warren (stereograph) 1863

Curator: This stereograph, attributed to Mathew Brady, is titled "The Fairy Wedding Party. Mr. & Mrs. Genl. Tom Thumb, Commodore Nutt, Minnie Warren." Editor: Wow, there's something both enchanting and unsettling about this. Like a dream, but tinted with sepia. Curator: Indeed. The photograph captures the wedding party of General Tom Thumb, a celebrated performer, reflecting a fascination with the spectacle of difference in the mid-19th century. The image, however, also prompts discussions of representation and agency. Editor: I find myself wondering what it felt like to be on the other side of Brady's lens, so exposed, so celebrated, and perhaps, so misunderstood. It makes me want to write a poem. Curator: It's a complicated image, isn't it? One that invites us to question the ethics of spectacle and the narratives we construct around identity. Editor: Absolutely. It’s a conversation starter, wrapped in a very pretty, if melancholic, package.