Untitled (Eugenie Stoll in front of Christmas tree) c. 1970

Curator: This small silver gelatin print by C. Bennette Moore captures Eugenie Stoll in front of a Christmas tree. It's an intimate domestic scene. Editor: It feels melancholic, despite the holiday setting. The high-key palette almost washes away the figures, making them ghostlike against the ornate tree. Curator: Consider the Christmas tree itself. It's laden with ornaments, a symbol deeply rooted in Germanic pagan traditions, adopted and reshaped by Christianity as a symbol of eternal life. Editor: And think about the labor to make it happen; the mining for the silver in the print, the crafting of the ornaments, the felling of the tree. Even in its small scale, we see so much material and social effort. Curator: The children amidst the tree—they're symbols too, of innocence, of the future, all framed within this yearly ritual of renewal and reflection. Editor: It's easy to get lost in the sentimentality, but viewing the making of the photograph itself and the making of the Christmas celebration really drives home the image's social grounding. Curator: I see a timeless tableau, constantly reinterpreted with each viewing. Editor: And I see a moment captured, embedded in very specific material conditions.