Untitled (girl in performance costume and feather headdress standing in doorway) after 1940

Paul Gittings made this photograph, "Untitled (girl in performance costume and feather headdress standing in doorway)," though we don't know exactly when. The image evokes a vaudeville aesthetic, referencing a period when performance was a powerful means of self-expression, especially for marginalized communities. Consider the girl's costume: it’s both ornate and theatrical. The feather headdress, the cape, and the meticulously detailed dress all hint at a character she is embodying. Think about this performance of identity through the lens of gender and youth. How does this costume allow the girl to explore different facets of herself? How might she be using this performance to navigate societal expectations or to express her inner world? The doorway serves as a threshold, a place of transition. Is she about to step onto a stage, or is she caught in a moment of contemplation before the performance begins? This photograph invites us to reflect on the layers of identity and performance, the stories we tell about ourselves, and the spaces in which we choose to tell them.