Untitled (photograph Gittings photo: "Glorious Myth") c. 1970

This warm-toned, sepia photograph titled "Glorious Myth," by Paul Gittings, captures two young girls beneath hanging stockings. The composition is structured by the frame within a frame, drawing our eye to the children posed as if in a tableau, waiting expectantly. Gittings plays with the semiotics of portraiture. The stockings, symbols of anticipation and tradition, hang above the children, who gaze out with an almost unsettling directness. Their symmetrical placement on either side of the frame emphasizes balance and order. Yet, this very staging disrupts any sense of candidness. We are confronted not with innocence, but with its constructed image. The photograph operates within a visual economy, inviting us to consider how cultural symbols and posed representation interact. Gittings' photograph challenges our understanding of authenticity, prompting us to look beyond the surface of nostalgia.