Untitled (gorilla in zoo cage with cigar) c. 1951

Editor: This is a small, square photograph by Jack Gould, titled "Untitled (gorilla in zoo cage with cigar)". It gives me a melancholic feeling. The reddish-brown tones, the caged animal... What's your take on this? Curator: Ah, yes. It whispers of confinement, doesn't it? And look at that little cigar! It's both absurd and heartbreaking. Gould, I suspect, wanted us to ponder the simian in ourselves, the cages we build – literal and metaphorical. The photograph seems to ask, "Who is truly the captive here?" What do you think? Editor: Wow, I didn't think about it that way. I was only thinking about the gorilla! Curator: It's easy to do, isn't it? This photo nudges us to see beyond the obvious bars. Makes you wonder about our own gilded cages, doesn't it?