Untitled (three boys on brick wall) c. 1950

Curator: This photograph, created by Lucian and Mary Brown, shows three boys sitting on a brick wall. It's a small gelatin silver print. Editor: The inverted tones create an otherworldly feel. It makes me think about visibility and representation. Curator: Absolutely. Light and shadow are potent symbols, here perhaps reflecting the hidden aspects of childhood experience. Editor: Or, more overtly, the complex relationship of Black individuals to image-making and self-representation within a white-dominated society. Curator: Perhaps it speaks to the inherent contradictions of innocence, or the way that light and dark coexist in the human soul. Editor: It could also point to the ways in which Black joy is so often forced to exist in the shadows of systemic injustice. Curator: The image evokes a powerful, unsettling ambiguity. Editor: It’s a haunting reminder of whose stories get told, and how.