Untitled (older couple and boy in living room in front of windows) c. 1940

This photograph of an older couple and boy in a living room was made by Paul Gittings. This image is fascinating as it looks like the negative version of a photograph, which gives it an eerie quality. The artist has embraced the materiality of the medium, emphasizing the flat, reflective surface of the photographic paper. The inverted tones make the figures appear ghostly and ethereal, like apparitions from another time. Look at the way the light spills across the subjects, creating a luminous effect that almost seems to dissolve their forms into the surrounding space. I'm reminded of my own studio and the way light transforms familiar objects into something otherworldly. I think that the oddity of this image is very telling of the family itself. It's as if Gittings is suggesting that photography is not just about capturing reality, but about creating new ways of seeing and experiencing the world. It's an interesting idea, that the best art is that which creates more questions than answers.