The Pei Tower, Boston, Massachusetts 1976

Curator: This is Elaine Mayes' photograph, "The Pei Tower, Boston, Massachusetts," currently held at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The immediate impression is one of aspiration. It really emphasizes the tower's height, almost like a modern obelisk. Curator: The photograph’s strength lies in capturing the tower as a product of labor and material: glass, steel, concrete, all shaped by human ingenuity and economic forces. Editor: But it also functions as a potent symbol. The tower mirroring the sky, creating this interplay between earth and heaven, ambition and reflection... Curator: Precisely, and the monochrome highlights the textures of the building materials, the tangible reality beneath the symbolic facade. Editor: Still, the light, airy quality almost dematerializes it. It makes me wonder what it represents, this modern striving. Curator: It's fascinating how Mayes juxtaposes these readings. The tower, material and symbolic, reaching, yet also mirroring the world around it. Editor: Agreed. A poignant statement on modern ambition—its substance and its shadows.