Y’all,
I was minding my business and scrolling Facebook when this meme of FBI director Kash Patel popped up and nearly took me to Black Jesus.
Look at him in that photo from “Trollin’ Mills,” haunting himself from the side. One face is staring dead into the camera like he’s about to ask you if you broke the law. The other is floating in the background like he just remembered something from 1984 that changed the trajectory of his life.
This pic is giving responsible citizen and quiet storm album cover. No, scratch that. It’s giving “I handle my business” and “I have known pain.”
And so I just sat there, with my phone in my hand, and I started laughing my blackened ass off. Because I didn’t see Kash Patel. I seen somebody’s uncle from 1984.
Don’t laugh!
Because Y’all know good and damn well every American household had at least one of these hanging up somewhere. You absolutely got one of these in a frame somewhere, slightly crooked, and silently judging you right now. I know you do.
You got one either in the hallway, over the couch, or at yo’ grandmama’s house right next to the plastic-covered couch that sighs and sticks to your legs in the summertime. You know and I know that this kind of portrait wasn’t just a picture but a whole statement that said proudly: “we paid good money for this shit, so everybody g’on look at it every time they walk past.”
Instagram ain’t got nothin’ on these pics!
This is that 1980s double-exposure portrait studio magic. That “two poses, one soul” Sears Portrait Studio special, to be exact. Back then, you didn’t just take pictures, you went to take pictures. This was a whole outing. A whole event and full production. Your clothes got ironed. Hair did. Vaseline on the face if you was Black. Somebody was arguing in the car because somebody else wasn’t ready on time. You drove 25 minutes, and swore we wasn’t leaving without something regal energy.
This is Sears. This is JCPenney. This is a $29.99 plus tax package deal with two 8x10s, three 5x7s, and a wallet-size set that nobody ever used but still kept in a drawer like they might need it one day to prove identity.
I can still hear the photographer directing you like you were about to be featured in a documentary, “tilt your chin.” “Turn your shoulders.” “Lift your chin.” “Now look straight ahead.” “Now, look off into the distance.”
Before curated feeds, avatars, and profile pics, folks were already editing themselves into something intentional and respectable. Back in the ’80s, photographers were doing that soft-focus, double-exposure glam shot where they’d take two different poses and layer them together like you were both present and reminiscing at the same time. Look at that airbrushed skin, the dramatic lighting, and add a little shadow work. Umph. Everybody and n’em looked like they were either about to drop a gospel album or give an honor to god testimony.
And that double-exposure was a hit. You had two of your faces in the same frame like you unlocked a bonus level of yourself. One version handling the present, the other version preoccupied with something deeper and unspoken. In that frame, you have layers, depth, and range goddammit! “I am somebody!”
And that soft-focus glow blurred your ass into righteousness. Skin smoother than a fresh jar of cocoa butter. Lighting so dramatic it looked like Black Jesus himself was holding a ring light just off camera.
And them clothes!
Chile . . .
Everybody looked like they either sold insurance or were about to drop a gospel album titled Faith, Bills, and Forgiveness. You couldn’t explain those patterns and textures if your life depended on it.
And those photos didn’t just go into an album somewhere. Nah. They got framed, displayed, and elevated. They got hung in places of honor or right there in the hallway, watching your ass like an unblinking ancestor. Watching you grow up, make bad decisions, and you sneak in late like they didn’t see you.
And that’s why this Kash Patel meme is so funny to me. I don’t know about Y’all, but for me it accidentally tapped into a whole cultural archive. For me, it’s not just a bad photo. It’s a time machine and a reminder that before filters and selfies, there was a time when capturing your image required planning, money, and a willingness to look slightly possessed in the name of art. And somehow, we all agreed that having two versions of yourself in one picture was the height of sophistication.
For real though, I don’t actually have one of these pics. I’m a late ’80s kid who came of age in the ’90s. I caught the tail end of this trend, when the double-exposure ancestors were still on the wall but the studios were starting to move on. I didn’t get the two-poses-one-soul package. Instead, I got the slightly awkward single pose with a laser background that looked like I was about to enter cyberspace.
Now let me say this real quick, because memes like this don’t just pop up out of nowhere. The reason this Kash Patel photo is making the rounds on social media right now is because we are in one of those political moments where everything feels deeply unserious in a dangerous way. And when folks don’t have the time, or the energy, to write a full think piece about power, image, and whatever the hell is going on, they do what the internet does best. They meme it. They grab a picture, zoom in, add a caption, and suddenly that image is carrying more truth than a whole press conference.
And so the internet decided to “make sense of political chaos” by turning a grown man into somebody’s uncle with a double-exposure portrait hanging over the couch.
But here’s the part that makes me laugh the hardest. We clown these pictures now like they’re ridiculous, and they are, but look at us today. We’re still out here doing the same thing. We’re still angling our faces like so. Still softening the lighting and choosing between “this is me” and “this is the version of me I want you to see.” The only difference is now we don’t need Sears to do it.
We’ve got the ability to take 47 versions of the same photo and pretend the best one just “happened.” Meanwhile, back in 1988, you got one shot. Two poses. And a dream.
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