Hubba after 1987

Jim Goldberg created "Hubba" as a black and white photograph with a close-up of a hand lighting a glass pipe. The intense contrast between the darks and the sparkling highlights of the flame and glass are striking. I imagine Goldberg in the dark room watching this image come to life in the developing tray, thinking about how to capture not just the act, but the complex social realities it reflects. The texture is grainy, almost raw, and yet this aesthetic decision speaks volumes. I'm thinking about Nan Goldin, and Diane Arbus too, who have made bodies of work of this kind of subject matter. The hand in the photograph is almost sculptural, the dark shadow creating this abstract shape, yet it conveys vulnerability, addiction, and the harsh realities of life. The composition is unsettling but strangely compelling. It feels like Goldberg is in conversation with these other artists, asking difficult questions without offering easy answers.