Prentbriefkaart gebruikt als campagnemateriaal voor senaatskandidaat Joseph McCarthy 1946

This small postcard was used in a campaign for Senator Joseph McCarthy, though we don't know who made it or when. What gets me about this piece is its collage-like structure, it's almost like three images competing for attention. Look at the way the images are stacked: war hero, politician, wartime strategist. Each panel, a constructed persona. What comes through is the sense of the photo as a tool, a malleable material for building narratives. It reminds me a little of Hannah Hoch's photomontages, the way she chopped up images to question the narratives around women. Though here, it is the narratives around power that are being built and perhaps questioned. It seems to embrace ambiguity, inviting us to piece together our own story.