Manhattan Car Window 2015

Elina Brotherus made this photograph, Manhattan Car Window, at an unknown date with, I presume, a camera. There is something intriguing about the layering of the image. The photograph shows the skyline of Manhattan as seen through a car window. The window is a picture frame within a picture frame. There’s a sense of being both inside and outside, looking in and looking out. We are in the present but also at a distance. The horizontal lines of the window echo the horizontal skyline of Manhattan. The city, the sky, and the road all seem to blur into one. The car frame is dark, with a small glimpse of the passenger, making the viewer the main subject. The photograph asks us to consider our place and space in relation to the world. It reminds me of Ed Ruscha's photographs. Both use an interesting approach to the idea of seriality. They take pictures of everyday landscapes and in doing so, reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary.