Photographies

Snapshots

photographer unknown

1921
17.5 x 29.5 cm
FC 3234.2 P732 PE000724

The photograph captioned "Cowgirl?" provides an example of how identities can be reimagined through photographs. In this example, a young woman challenges the gender stereotypes of the day by dressing up as a cowboy, just like the men posed in the pictures next to her. The photograph offers evidence that a woman can perform this identity and appear just as convincing as the men, but the caption, with its towering question mark, asks whether such an identity is really possible.

This album is part of the Prairie Ephemera Collection housed in Bruce Peel Special Collections.