Object Record / FI-EPH-300
Cowboy Emoji Mask
digital / PNG, 1125×2436 / screenshot / origin unverified / accessioned / catalogued curio
Primary evidence
The object before the record.
Narrative record
Evidence, relevance, and unresolved state.
Provenance
Custody record
Logged 2026-09-26 / quantity 1 digital image. 1 source asset reference registered.
Identification notes
What is known
Found image supplied for The Shadow Zone: a phone screenshot of an Instagram meme-account carousel post. The image shows a grinning cowboy-hat emoji held up like a mask over a second yellow face that has hollow black eyes and a downturned mouth, the "hiding the pain behind a smile" joke in emoji form. The caption reads "call me a paleontologist the way I be digging up fossils for you," and the post shows 19,472 likes. Maker, origin, and date are not recorded. The exif scrub reported no location metadata to strip.
Restoration relevance
Why it remains connected
accessioned / catalogued curio. Disposition: archive. The object remains associated with The Shadow Zone.
Uncertainty notes
What remains unresolved
digital / PNG, 1125×2436 / screenshot / origin unverified. accessioned / catalogued curio. Terms marked unknown, provisional, pending, or unverified remain part of the record until evidence resolves them.
Relationships
Keep the object connected.
Related objects
Parent system
The Shadow Zone
A holding zone for surreal found media and uncanny artifacts that surface around the archive — images with no clear origin, kept as evidence of the culture that accretes on forgotten machines.
Associated dossier / FI-PROJ-010 / open
Field logs / dossiers
Archive routes
Source Assets / 1 reference
Raw archive paths are retained for provenance and maintenance. They are not the primary object presentation.
-
assets/ephemera/shadow-zone/fi-eph-300-cowboy-emoji-mask.pngOpen local asset