Anonymous Project: A secret history hiding in plain sight

[Grim Reaper 6]

A project collecting together thousands of photos from flea markets and auction sites offers touching glimpses into strangers’ lives, writes Fiona Macdonald. Are they living the American Dream? Were colours brighter then? The images – part of a collection of colour film slides called The Anonymous Project, and now published in a Taschen book, Midcentury Memories, raise more questions than they answer. Found in flea markets or online auction sites in the US and the UK, these photos of intimate moments and family gatherings from the 1940s to the 1980s are removed from their context. We don’t know the names of the people shown, or the places they inhabit. Yet that doesn’t stop us making our own connections.

Anonymous Project: A secret history hiding in plain sight - BBC Culture