Untitled (women with DAR and American flags) 1950

Editor: This photograph, simply titled "Untitled (women with DAR and American flags)" by Jack Gould, is small, only about 2 inches square. I find the inverted tones strangely unsettling. What symbols stand out to you here? Curator: The flags, of course, are central. The American flag is juxtaposed with the DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution, flag. Consider what that organization stood for, historically, and how those symbols might clash or converge in different viewers' minds. What cultural memories do they evoke for you? Editor: I guess I’m thinking about who gets to claim patriotism. It makes me wonder about ideas of belonging and exclusion. Curator: Precisely. Visual symbols are never neutral. They are laden with history and emotional weight, constantly reinterpreted across time. Editor: I’ll definitely remember that. Thanks.