Frederic Remington’s sculptures of mounted riders are meant to evoke awe, mirroring equestrian prowess with artistic achievement, and usually museum photographers support this goal by capturing them from striking angles against stark backdrops. Syjuco’s Set-up series, created using sculptures in the Carter collection, takes a different perspective, depicting works like The Outlaw (1906) from behind and against a black background. The sculpture is grasped by the gloved hands of an art handler and wears a tag with the object number 1961.15, identifying it as part of the Museum’s founding Amon G. Carter Collection.

By bringing “backstage” museum practices into the picture, Syjuco probes the Carter’s stewardship, both physical and intellectual, of American art and history. Since their creation, artworks like these have been used to support exclusionary narratives of national identity. This photograph by Syjuco suggests it is time for such mythologies to recede into the darkness, as this rider does, giving way to a wider range of American stories.

—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)