X-radiograph(s) of "Self-Portrait (copy after lost original?)" 

Curator: This is an X-radiograph of a lost self-portrait, possibly a copy, by an anonymous artist. To me, it feels like gazing into a faded memory. Editor: It evokes a sense of spectral presence and absence, doesn't it? The x-ray reveals not just the surface image, but the layered history of the canvas itself. Curator: Right, the underpainting, the material reality…it's like archaeology. It makes me think about how identity is built through layers, too, both visible and unseen. Editor: Absolutely. The anonymity raises questions about authorship, about who gets to represent whom, and the politics inherent in visibility. It's a profound meditation on representation itself. Curator: It is, yes, a whisper of a face, a ghost in the machine. Editor: Leaving us to contemplate the spectral origins of art and self.