There were patterns, though. The images—wherever they originated—shared a rhythm: a fix on edges, a fascination with textures, an economy of color that read like someone editing the world down to its key chords. Figures were often cropped at the wrist. Signs appeared in languages we couldn’t immediately place. Small, almost secret, icons recurred in corners: a faded star, a tiny crescent, a set of three vertical dots like a rebus. These recurring motifs were like fingerprints—evidence that different hands might be working from the same sheet music.