Untitled (five girls posed sitting and three boys posed standing inside living room) 1953

Editor: This gelatin silver print, by Martin Schweig, shows a gathering of young people indoors. It has this eerie, almost dreamlike quality, amplified by the stark contrast of the negative. What do you make of this gathering? Curator: It whispers of a bygone era, doesn't it? I see a carefully staged tableau, almost a theatrical performance. The children are frozen, suspended. Is it joy, or something more… unsettling? Perhaps the artist sought to capture not just an image, but a feeling. Editor: Unsettling is a great word. The formality clashes with the informality of the setting. Curator: Precisely! It reminds me of those strange moments in childhood where we're asked to be something we're not, to perform for the camera. We see the artifice, and the children are trapped in the amber of the photo. It's as if the photographer is asking "What does 'family' really mean?" Editor: Food for thought – thanks!