DAY 198

PHOTOGRAPHIC CURIOSITIES

Lost Authors

THE ENIGMA OF ANONYMOUS PHOTOGRAPHS

If the story behind a photograph is forever lost, does the image lose its significance—or is its meaning deepened?

One of the most universal genres of photography is the disparate mass of images, which, for one reason or another, have become entirely disconnected from their source. Whether the snapshots are found in an abandoned house, sandwiched between the pages of a book at the flea market, or floating about the dark recesses of cyberspace, they serve as a carte blanche for the imagination.

Robert Flynn Johnson’s book Anonymous highlights the enigma of authorless photos. We will never know the definitive meaning behind the photograph of a small child with a pacifier in his mouth holding an assault rifle. The toddler sitting at a miniature table and chairs and sharing milk and cookies with three monkeys will forever remain in obscurity, as will the man driving a tiny wagon pulled by a team of six pigs.¹

In spite of (or perhaps because of) their anonymity, such mystery photos often have an uncannily personal feel to them. The observer can’t help but feel that they are looking through the family album of a close friend: innominate photographs often achieve a mythical significance that transcends the accidental details of their particular origin. —DJS