Untitled (Alligator wearing sunglasses) 1969

Curator: Well, isn't this something? A photograph from 1969, whose artist remains anonymous, showing an alligator… wearing sunglasses. Editor: Utterly absurd and yet compelling. It’s the disjunction that grabs you immediately. That casual hand on the alligator’s tail… it speaks to the ways in which human perception frames otherness, how it domesticates the wild for… what, exactly? Humor? Ownership? Curator: Precisely! The sunglasses become this absurd symbol, deflecting our gaze from the reptilian eye, an eye we reflexively read as 'cold blooded', inscrutable, dangerous. But what happens when that is masked and turned into a funny moment? I see it tapping into primal fears, certainly. Alligators have represented death, the underworld in various cultures, like Sobek in ancient Egypt. But, look, here is one tamed by eyewear, made comical. Editor: And what is the alligator supposed to mean here? In 1969, were there specific connotations attached to the animal that an audience might pick up on? I can’t help thinking about the context, the rise of environmental awareness then… Were pet alligators common? Did it signal wealth, rebellion, or even disregard for nature’s boundaries? It does give me the uncanny feeling. Like, why does the carpet look like a murky river? Curator: You’re right; alligators became pop-culture icons through movies and TV, which also led to misguided ideas about them being manageable pets. To place sunglasses on it... that becomes a layered action, doesn’t it? Protection? Mimicry? And note, the gesture towards anthropomorphism, almost mocking human behavior through this non-human figure, while also flattening it to mere fashion. Editor: It forces questions of responsibility and the gaze upon us. What’s truly "wild," and what have we made so? Perhaps it suggests something dangerous hidden behind cool indifference. We've made a ridiculous icon out of something potentially lethal. It could reflect a much wider cultural condition – our own self-imposed blind spots to larger, more dangerous systems and inequalities. Curator: Perhaps… it certainly lingers in the mind. Symbols gain meanings as time changes. So it may continue to accumulate nuances we haven’t fully grasped yet. Editor: It’s still making me uncomfortable. It reminds us of how easily we sanitize cruelty by turning a blind eye and putting sunglasses on something that should not be kept as pet.