Equivalent 1927

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Equivalent, with a camera, paper and some chemicals. It’s a small picture of clouds, but it feels huge, somehow. It's about the way the light falls, isn’t it? The way the dark clouds gather, heavy and full, then break apart, revealing the brightness behind. I'm thinking about form and formlessness, solidity and ethereality, the way fleeting moments can be captured, held still, and how art can be a container for our own shifting emotions. The surface has a kind of glow, a silveriness, it’s not just a picture of something, it’s something in itself. Look at the top right, where the clouds are thinner, almost transparent, and then drop down to the dense mass in the middle, the way it catches the light. Thinking about other artists, I see a bit of Gerhard Richter in Stieglitz’s focus on light and atmosphere. Both understood that art isn't about answers, it's about questions.