Charity, Organizations: United States. New York. New York City. National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild: National Plant, Flower, and Fruit Guild: Gifts of Potted Plants to Women Applicants. 1906

Editor: This photograph, taken by the Byron Company, is titled "Charity, Organizations: United States. New York. New York City. National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild: National Plant, Flower, and Fruit Guild: Gifts of Potted Plants to Women Applicants." The scene feels very staged. What do you see in this image? Curator: It's interesting to consider the labor and the material conditions that enable this seemingly benevolent act. Who cultivated these plants? Who made the pots? And how does this charitable act function within the larger economic systems of the time? Editor: That's fascinating; I never considered the labor behind the plants themselves. Curator: It exposes the complex web of production and consumption inherent in acts of charity. It certainly gives a new perspective to the image.