Johnson Arrives for 1960 Democratic National Convention 1960

Leigh Wiener made this gelatin silver print, ‘Johnson Arrives for 1960 Democratic National Convention’ – and what hits you first, right? It’s the hats. Hats are so great, they give such character to a scene. They're like the brushstrokes of a moment, each one different, telling a slightly different story. The light and shadow here are everything. Look at how the reflections bounce off the car, almost mirroring the scene above. There's a push and pull between the real and the reflected, kinda like how memory works, right? What really grabs me is the shadow under that one guy's hat, it's like a little punctuation mark, adding a bit of mystery. It reminds me of Robert Frank, who was also capturing America at that time, but Wiener has this optimistic view. It’s a reminder that art is never just one thing. It’s an ongoing conversation.