Bad Camouflage 2016

Elina Brotherus made this photograph, titled *Bad Camouflage*, maybe with a digital camera, and it’s less about any actual attempt to disappear and more a portrait about blending in, or not. The floral patterns – in the curtains, the wallpaper, and the woman’s dress – create a visual push-pull. Each competes for attention, yet none fully dominates. This is a kind of painting too, or at least I see it that way; a composition built of colors and forms, playing with flatness and depth. Look at how the flowers cluster and repeat, like brushstrokes building up a surface. The dress almost vanishes against the curtains behind, a quiet rebellion against the idea of standing out. Brotherus often uses herself as a subject, exploring themes of identity and environment. Like the work of Claude Cahun, there’s a sense of performance here, a questioning of how we present ourselves to the world. This piece doesn’t give us answers, but rather invites us to consider the playful ambiguity of appearance, and how much of ourselves we choose to reveal, or conceal.