During vacations in Cape Cod and Fire Island, Paul Cadmus, Jared French, and Margaret French photographed each other on the beach and indoors, donning makeshift costumes and building sets and props out of found architecture and objects. They passed the camera around, becoming subjects and makers in turn. This collaborative authorship was reflected in the name they chose, which fuses the first two letters of their first names: PaJaMa.
Cadmus explained, “After we’d been working most of the day, we’d go out late afternoons and take photographs when the light was best. They were just playthings. We would hand out these little photographs when we went to dinner parties, like playing cards.”
Gallery label from Lincoln Kirstein’s Modern, March 17 – June 15, 2019.