Untitled #53 (Sally Salt Says) 1999

Curator: Anna Gaskell’s photographic work, "Untitled #53 (Sally Salt Says)," created in 1999, presents an enigmatic image open to numerous readings. Editor: My immediate impression is one of staged awkwardness. The cropped view of this woman’s back, surrounded by sterile shelving and lab bottles creates a clinical yet almost desperate environment. There's a sense of forced action here with how she handles these materials, tissues maybe? Curator: It’s crucial to remember Gaskell's background, where literature heavily influences her work. Her pieces are frequently extensions or deconstructions of literary narratives, aiming to use her work to explore anxieties surrounding memory, adolescence and performance. The ‘Sally Salt Says’ included in the title hints at a coded, perhaps ominous, narrative prompt. Editor: Agreed, but what I find compelling is her manipulation of the photographic medium itself. There's an emphasis here on textures and objects as commodities or perhaps remnants. From what is visible from the source materials surrounding her subject—glass, steel, fibers—a lab scenario where actions become repeated, examined and almost mechanical. Are we supposed to observe this in real time, like lab worker being viewed from another level, in media res? Curator: That observation is certainly valid when you consider Gaskell’s technique. She regularly alters elements in production like her control of composition or subjects to elicit the unnerving, even in the commonplace. What stands out most is her commitment to the cultural resonance of photographic image itself. This approach creates ambiguity, prompting us to look closely. The sterile environment feels distinctly institutional, recalling spaces that carry power dynamics. Editor: Precisely. The material conditions are undeniably stark. And that title seems like both an indicator and a misdirection to meaning. Seeing this image and thinking through all its different points really shifts something inside of me in that I keep discovering even now! Curator: Exactly. It also gives room to ponder how artists respond, comment and subvert systems that dominate creative landscape in terms of medium. Gaskell certainly provides a point of discussion around photography in its continued intersection within the framework of artistic, social and even industrial commentary.