Untitled (man with puppets) c. 1970

Editor: This gelatin silver print, "Untitled (man with puppets)" by Ken Whitmire Associates, shows a man formally dressed but holding puppets. The inverted colors give it a strange, almost dreamlike quality. What’s your take on this image? Curator: It's interesting to consider the intersection of performance and identity here. The man’s formal attire contrasts starkly with the playful puppets, immediately raising questions about the roles we perform and the masks we wear. Are we seeing a commentary on societal expectations of masculinity? Editor: That’s a great point. The puppets almost seem to mock the formality. Curator: Exactly. And in the context of the time it was created, what statements might it be making about class and race, given the staging within the domestic space? Editor: I hadn't thought of it that way. Now I see it as a more complex statement about identity. Curator: Precisely, it invites us to unpack those complexities.