Memo Center with Butterflies c. 1975

Joanne Leonard made this gelatin silver print, Memo Center with Butterflies, sometime in the 20th century. It’s a seemingly simple image, a kind of casual shot of a domestic scene. I like the way the butterflies are pinned to the wall—a small, defiant gesture of beauty amidst the banal. I can imagine her considering all the other options: the telephone, the notepad. But, ultimately, she was drawn to these cheap, mass-produced objects and the way they transform a space. I bet she was interested in the relationship between documentation and imagination, and the way a photograph can capture both the everyday and the extraordinary. It makes me think of the work of other artists like Martha Rosler who were exploring similar themes of domesticity, gender, and representation. In the end, it’s a reminder that even the most ordinary things can be a source of inspiration, inviting us to find our own butterflies in the everyday.