Studioportret van Henry Pauw van Wieldrecht in Oriëntaals kostuum met een geweer 1902

This photograph, Studioportret van Henry Pauw van Wieldrecht in Oriëntaals kostuum met een geweer, was captured by Rafael Garzón. Now, here’s a funny little moment frozen in time! This photograph has the look of a carefully staged scene, but the subject's eyes are the tell. This guy in his costume is not quite buying it, you can see it in his eyes. There’s something that feels so artificial and posed, yet at the same time, this guy looks amazing, even kind of cool? I keep thinking about the light, how it hits the details in the columns and casts shadows that define the folds of the costume. And of course, the rifle – a symbol of power and history. It’s a photograph of a performance, but I don't know what the play is about. It reminds me a little bit of some of the pictures of Man Ray with Duchamp dressed as his female alter ego Rrose Selavy – both messing with how we imagine the world through the construction of art. It’s a photograph, but in a way, it’s also a kind of painting, a constructed image.