Anonymous snapshot, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.402

Self-identification through inscription is common in snapshots. Markings on or near oneself can add authenticity to an image, as if to verify, “That was me. I was there. I did that.” This early form of the selfie also emphasizes what drives us to take pictures of ourselves in the first place. Do we ever really know ourselves except from the perspective of others? Writing in 1925, D. H. Lawrence grasped the impact of snapshots on the ego: “The identifying of ourselves with the visual language of ourselves has become instinct,” he wrote. “The picture of me, the me that is seen, is me.”