Last year, I produced a series of halftone portraits for Electric Objects. I used Creative Commons licensed photos on Flickr. I treat these photos as the raw medium, like paint on a palette. But they’re of people. It’s their face, front and center.

In one of their first public demos, the Electric Objects team displayed one of my portraits in a side room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It was just for an afternoon.

The woman from the portrait walks into that room.

She’s from Brazil. I hadn’t reached out to her or the photographer. She knows the original photo exists, but not my derivative artwork. Imagine traveling across the globe, peaking into a museum room, and seeing your own face.

It’s a lovely coincidence. But I’m embarrassed. The internet doesn’t have to be full of strangers. Good neighbors introduce themselves.