Untitled (two girls dressed in white, wearing veils, holding bibles and rosaries, both standing) 1952

Editor: Here we have an untitled photograph by John Deusing of two young girls in matching white dresses. They also have veils, and are holding what seem to be religious objects. It has a lovely, slightly unsettling quality, almost like a memory. What strikes you when you look at it? Curator: I feel drawn to the stark simplicity. It’s like a glimpse into a ritual, a moment of transition perhaps. The whiteness, the veils…almost ghosts, or angels frozen in time. It whispers of innocence, but there’s a formality, a stillness, that hints at the weight of tradition. Don't you feel it? Editor: I do, now that you mention the weight of tradition. It makes me wonder about the photographer's intentions. Curator: Exactly! Was it a detached observation or something deeply personal? Perhaps a longing for the past, for a certain kind of purity? I think there is so much to ponder here.