Equivalent 1925

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Equivalent, using photography, that most modern of mediums, to catch something ancient: the sky. The photograph is not about clouds so much as about seeing. Stieglitz's photograph is all about texture, a silvery, almost metallic surface that, in person, has a strange luminosity. Look closely and you can see the granular quality in the lower left, like a field of tiny, shimmering dots. It’s a reminder that this image isn't just a window, it’s also an object. It makes me think of Vija Celmins' drawings, those hyper-realistic renderings of skies and oceans, where the process of looking and marking become a kind of meditation. With both artists, it’s not just about what they depict, but about how they make us see.