Untitled (two little girls in matching dresses and hats) c. 1950

Curator: This is an intriguing photograph, Untitled (two little girls in matching dresses and hats), by Lucian and Mary Brown. It’s a gelatin silver print, measuring just 10.16 x 12.7 cm. Editor: It strikes me immediately as haunting. The high contrast, almost negative-like quality, gives it this otherworldly feel. What do you make of the composition? Curator: The figures seem somewhat staged, almost pressed forward. The clothing is essential to understanding the social context; the matching outfits suggest a certain uniformity and perhaps speak to the economic constraints of the time. Editor: The hats, dresses, even the serious expressions...they evoke a powerful image of childhood conformity, maybe even loss of innocence. It makes me consider societal expectations projected onto them. Curator: Absolutely, and the material of those dresses, likely cotton or a simple synthetic blend, would have been readily available and relatively inexpensive, indicating a specific socio-economic reality. Editor: The image pulls at deeper threads. The photographic inversion lends a symbolic weight to ordinary garments. Curator: Seeing it this way helps us to think more about its creation as a material object. Editor: And the image imprints on us a memory.