Untitled (people sitting in airport waiting area, two women) c. 1950

Editor: This small, untitled photograph by Jack Gould shows three women sitting in what looks like an airport waiting area. The negative gives it an eerie mood. What strikes you about it? Curator: Consider the materiality. It’s a small, mass-produced safety film negative. What was Gould capturing, and for what purpose? Was he focused on the labor of travel, the clothing as a signifier of class and time, or the social ritual of waiting? Editor: I never considered the labor aspect. I was only thinking of it as a snapshot of a particular moment. Curator: It’s easy to overlook the labor and consumption inherent in the image itself, from the Kodak film to the clothing worn by the women. Editor: That’s a really interesting way to look at this picture.