Untitled, Metropolitan Museum, N.Y.C. 1995

Curator: A haunting stillness permeates Tanya Marcuse's photograph, "Untitled, Metropolitan Museum, N.Y.C.," crafted in 1995. Editor: Right, a disembodied mouth hovers on the precipice of silence. I keep wanting to breathe life back into the stone. Curator: The composition is rigorously controlled: the fragmented sculpture, starkly lit, centered against a somber backdrop. The photographer utilizes the interplay of light and shadow to amplify the object's texture and form. Editor: The chunk missing at the top – a jagged tear across smooth cheek – feels less like damage, more like... an opening. As if the marble yearns to unearth secrets. Almost sensual, like an invitation, perhaps even. Curator: Indeed. The classical bust, recontextualized and reframed by Marcuse's lens, invites contemplation on themes of fragility and time, perhaps the decay of ideals. One wonders about the photographer’s relationship to form and its ontology as metaphor. Editor: There’s an odd tension isn’t there? An almost aggressive delicacy. Those luscious, slightly parted lips, yearning, yes, yet seemingly capable of delivering a sharp retort. They’re holding back, I sense. Resisting the void that threatens to engulf them. Curator: Precisely. Through subtle gradations of tone and meticulous framing, Marcuse draws our gaze to the subtle curvature of the mouth, its potential for speech forever silenced. The texture implies the tactile properties of stone. Editor: I think the magic is how Tanya made a relic vibrate, using only photography and monochrome light! A quiet poem about art, loss, and, dare I say, beauty. Curator: A sophisticated study, offering potent reflection about aesthetics and antiquity, wouldn't you agree? Editor: A visual meditation of lips, carved or kissed, equally compelling. I want to sit with that silence for longer, what is beauty, what can endure.