Hollywood and Highland (#3) Possibly 1987 - 1994

Editor: Jim Goldberg's "Hollywood and Highland (#3)," possibly from between 1987 and 1994, is a stark black and white photograph. It feels like a captured moment of vulnerability amidst the artificiality of Hollywood, a portrait that whispers stories. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a potent blend of symbols, fraught with cultural weight. The Hollywood Walk of Fame, normally a celebration of stardom, here serves as a backdrop to a figure embodying perhaps the opposite of success. This juxtaposition speaks volumes. The cigarette, the posture – consider them not just as details, but as markers of a certain disposition or experience. What does that posture tell you? Editor: It seems defeated, almost like he is shielding himself, even though there are other figures visible in the background. I almost missed the figures walking in the top left! Curator: Indeed. Goldberg captures a fragmented reality. We, the viewers, become implicated in this act of looking. He invites us to question our own relationship with the image, its symbolism. How does the photographic medium itself contribute to the feeling it conveys? Editor: I guess the starkness of black and white adds to the rawness. Maybe the photo itself is referencing older photography as well and making commentary on the ways different communities are portrayed, like the use of stark portraits to show social divides and status in society. Curator: Precisely! The choices surrounding medium and process create a multilayered experience. Ultimately, I'm left wondering: who are we, the viewers, in relation to this image? And what stories do we bring to it? Editor: That's a really insightful perspective. I appreciate you helping me understand this picture and what it means to look at it, with so much cultural information built into the work itself.