Untitled (mother seated in armchair with son and daughter) c. 1955

This photograph, 'Untitled (mother seated in armchair with son and daughter)' by Paul Gittings, presents a family portrait in stark reversal, challenging traditional notions of representation. The negative image casts familiar subjects in an unfamiliar light, immediately drawing attention to the formal qualities of the photograph. Notice how the reversed tonality affects our perception; light becomes dark, and shadows are rendered as highlights, unsettling the conventional reading of depth and volume. Gittings uses this technique to question the very nature of photographic truth, disrupting our expectations of how reality is captured and portrayed. The reversal also highlights the photograph's materiality, reminding us that it is not a direct reflection of reality but a constructed image. This disruption extends to the semiotic level, where the signs of family portraiture—the poses, the setting, the expressions—are inverted, leading to a re-evaluation of the underlying power dynamics and emotional narratives. By destabilizing the familiar, Gittings invites us to consider the constructed nature of identity and representation, recognizing that images are never neutral but always mediated through the lens of ideology and perception.