Untitled (children in costumes auditioning for theater, sitting in long line ) c. 1947

Editor: This is an untitled photograph by Jack Gould of children in costumes auditioning for a play. The image size is quite small, only 6x6 centimeters. It gives the scene a compressed and very intimate feeling. What do you see in it? Curator: What strikes me is how this image, seemingly of a simple audition, hints at larger societal structures. Note the children's costumes, and the waiting parents in the background. What roles are available to them, and who decides? The photographer's gaze, the act of image making itself, participates in that decision. Editor: That’s a perspective I hadn’t considered. It is interesting to consider how the image itself can perpetuate existing roles. Curator: Exactly. It forces us to confront the historical context of representation and power dynamics.