The Found Photograph and the Limits of Meaning

Barry Mauer

continued . . .

The word "FIRSTS" seems to be a principle for selecting and ordering the photographs on this found photo album page. It probably evoked connections for the compiler between herself and some events, connections which the photographs lost when the original owner lost this album page. While the caption "RAISING DOG'S INSTEAD OF BABY'S" seems clear enough, I can only speculate what the word "FIRSTS" means in relation to these images; are the people in the photograph the first visitors for the dog? Are the dogs spending their first day in the house? Is it two or more dogs' first birthdays? The family members, knowing the people and the stories cited in the photographs, are more likely to identify these contexts than the outsider.

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