Pueblo of Acoma c. 1900

Adam Clark Vroman, around the turn of the century, captured this image of the Pueblo of Acoma, a photograph laid over the ace of clubs playing card. Vroman, a bookseller who became a photographer, documented the landscapes and Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest. While his intentions may have been documentary, consider the power dynamics inherent in his gaze. This image, reshaped as a playing card, transforms a living community into a token, a collectible object to be bought, sold, and traded. The card format flattens the culture into a commodity, even as Vroman's lens attempts to capture the enduring strength of Acoma. The forced juxtaposition evokes questions about how we assign value, and whose stories get told. It's a poignant reminder of the complex and fraught relationship between representation, identity, and power.