Girls in Locker Room 1990

Curator: This evocative black and white photograph is Christine Osinski's "Girls in Locker Room," part of the Harvard Art Museums collection. What's your initial take? Editor: A wave of…awkwardness? Vulnerability? The raw honesty hits you, doesn't it? Curator: Absolutely. It’s a powerful snapshot of adolescence, the photograph situating these young women within a framework of societal expectations around bodies. Editor: It’s like she captured that moment of being utterly present, self-conscious yet also sort of bravely facing the world. I can almost feel the cold tile beneath my feet. Curator: Osinski's choice of black and white intensifies this feeling, stripping away distractions and highlighting the textures and emotional landscape. Editor: Right, it’s not just a locker room; it’s a stage. A prelude to something. Curator: Precisely, a place where identities are negotiated and performed under pressure. Editor: It makes you think, doesn't it? About then, about now, about ourselves. Curator: Indeed. Osinski invites us to reflect on the complex interplay of youth, identity, and the gaze. Editor: I think that's what makes it linger with you. Like a memory, slightly uncomfortable, deeply real.