Letter V c. 16th century

Curator: Here we have the artwork titled "Letter V," crafted by an anonymous artist. Its intricate designs are held within the collections of the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The density of the linework! It feels almost claustrophobic, yet paradoxically expansive in its swirling, plant-like tendrils. Curator: Indeed. Consider the historical context—the very idea of anonymity. Who was allowed, or not allowed, to author or create? Whose voices were erased or subsumed? Editor: And the "V" itself, what symbolic weight does it carry? Victory? Vulnerability? The unknown maker perhaps chose it deliberately to convey a message. Curator: Or perhaps it was simply another character in an alphabet of possibilities, each letter pregnant with socio-political weight waiting to be activated by the reader, or the viewer. Editor: A fascinating possibility. It makes me consider how every character, visual or textual, can become a vessel for projected meaning.