New York 1987

Rosalind Solomon made this gelatin silver print, “New York”, sometime in the last century. The dark greys and smoky blacks give the image a real weight. Look at the way Solomon allows the background to fall away. It’s like she’s saying, “the details here aren’t important.” It’s this embrace of the background and the way it’s slightly out of focus that really draws you into the figures. There’s a moment here, of human connection, of intense emotion. The two figures are very close, but there’s also something unknowable, something withheld from us. A contrast, maybe, between the love which is shown in the gestures and the love which is hidden. Solomon’s work always has a sensitivity and a complexity to it. Like Diane Arbus, she is fascinated by outsiders and intimacy. She doesn't offer easy answers, and celebrates the ambiguities of life.