Imagined Soundtracks
California Museum of Photography
June 5, 2025 to May 17, 2026
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The Smile
Samantha Kim (b. 2005)
The circus-like tune relays an unsettling and eerie feeling. A man is smiling at a monkey being humanized through its fitted clothing. It sits in a contraption tightly secured around its neck. The inspiration of this piece was the smile of the man that contrasted with the screeching monkey. The Smile is a piece written for the California Museum of Photography: Dr. Nello Pace and Monkey.
Image: Ansel Adams, UCB.66.12, December, 1966/2024. Scan from original negative. Collection of the California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTS, 1987.0027.6.UCB.66.12