Untitled (Eugenie Stoll Ragan) c. 1950

Curator: What strikes me immediately about this piece is the air of melancholic elegance. It's a photograph, "Untitled (Eugenie Stoll Ragan)," by Phyllis Moore Stoll. Editor: Seeing this inverted portrait, I’m thinking about how photographic negatives can reveal hidden truths and power dynamics, literally turning expectations upside down. Who was Eugenie Stoll Ragan? Curator: We don’t have much biographical information, but the portrait above her, combined with her gown, suggests a bridal portrait, a sort of matriarchal lineage. She's almost ethereally framed. Editor: It's interesting to consider how the inversion process impacts our reading of gender and representation. Is this a subversion of traditional portraiture? The high society depicted is in stark contrast with the social upheaval occurring at this time. Curator: Perhaps. Or maybe it's just a ghostly echo of a bygone era, a meditation on memory and loss. Whatever the intent, it’s a beautifully haunting image. Editor: Yes, and one that makes us question the stories that are told, and those that are deliberately left out.