Joris Ivens, John Fernhout en Robert Capa met wapens poserend tussen twee Chinese militairen tijdens de Chinees-Japanse oorlog 1938

Curator: This gelatin silver print, captured in 1938, portrays Joris Ivens, John Fernhout, and Robert Capa armed and positioned between two Chinese soldiers amidst the Sino-Japanese War. Editor: The mood is undeniably tense. Even in the static medium of photography, the bodies seem coiled, burdened by what lies ahead. It is the heavy gray scale and sharp contrast heightens this tension. Curator: Indeed. Formally, the photograph employs a stark contrast between light and shadow. The composition directs the viewer's eye toward the center, where the figures stand in rigid formation. This symmetry lends the image a stoic and balanced, yet somewhat unsettling presence. Editor: Thinking about the material aspect, consider what it meant to create a gelatin silver print back then, especially in a conflict zone. It signifies access to resources and technology. And the print itself, designed to be disseminated widely through mass media outlets. It served as material evidence, a tool used to shape opinion about this conflict. Curator: Precisely. The very materiality of this print testifies to the socio-political power embedded within documentary practices of the period. Its visual language speaks of a specific construction of history and geopolitical forces. Editor: The presence of recognizable figures such as Ivens and Capa places them both inside and outside of the depicted conflict. They stand amongst these men in uniform. Are they simply chroniclers of the unfolding situation or participants in the ongoing conflict? Curator: The formal relationships between the figures themselves is also suggestive: Note how they arrange their bodies and handle the implements of violence. Each gesture underscores a certain anxiety, but the photograph ultimately fails to tell us anything of substance concerning the men's psychology. Editor: However, it powerfully illustrates the complexities inherent in representing conflicts through visual mediums, specifically addressing concerns surrounding access and manipulation that continue to affect how we perceive the truthfulness of what it is presented as "real" news to this very day. Curator: Agreed. Ultimately, by paying close attention to this image's formal structures, we glean insight into how propaganda emerges during wartime scenarios, even unconsciously on the part of the artists involved. Editor: The value of an artifact like this lives within what we make of the tangible aspects of that which we observe in the image and by bringing attention to these elements, allowing ourselves new depths through contemplation regarding human relationships across space and place and through struggle.