Untitled (Sierra Madre, California) 1982

Editor: This black and white photograph, "Untitled (Sierra Madre, California)" by Bill Dane, shows a grocery store interior. The abundance of produce is striking, but it feels a bit staged. What do you notice about the production and context of this work? Curator: It's interesting to consider the labor involved in creating this abundance, from the agricultural workers to the store employees stocking shelves. How does the photograph itself participate in the cycle of consumption and representation? Editor: That makes me think about the process of taking the photo too. The artist's choice of black and white flattens everything, almost like a record. Does that draw attention to the act of making? Curator: Precisely! It asks us to consider the photograph not just as a window onto reality, but as a manufactured object, a commodity in itself, tied to the social and economic forces at play. Editor: I hadn't thought about photography in that way before! It's like the photo is both showing the stuff and becoming part of the stuff. Curator: Exactly. It encourages us to investigate the materiality of the image and its relationship to the world it depicts.