Untitled (child swimming in pool) c. 1950

Editor: This is an untitled gelatin silver print of a child swimming in a pool, by Jack Gould. The muted tones give it an air of mystery. What emotions or cultural memories does this image evoke for you? Curator: The pool, the water...it all becomes a symbol of immersion. Are they sinking or floating? What’s interesting is the ambiguity: childhood, the edge of something unknown and possibly frightening. The child appears almost Christ-like. Editor: That's a powerful reading. The water as a space for baptism or transformation... Curator: Precisely. Images like this connect us to a shared history of visual symbols, constantly reinterpreted through personal experience. What do you think you'll remember most? Editor: I think the idea of water as a symbol of the unknown will stick with me.