Can Opener and Box of Ivory Soap, Connecticut c. 1979

Joanne Leonard made this photograph, Can Opener and Box of Ivory Soap, Connecticut, sometime in the twentieth century. The composition is built around repetition and mirroring, the cool monochrome really emphasises the surfaces of things. I'm interested in the soap ad with the baby, tucked at the heart of the picture. A little mirror of ourselves, in the intimate space of the home. The objects are all very tactile, the woven basket, the rough cast metal of the can opener, the smooth plastic of the food processor. It's a still life of surfaces. I am reminded of the images of domestic objects made by Charles Sheeler, especially his interest in bringing together the machine made and the handmade. It suggests art is about seeing the world around you, and finding in it something that moves you. The everyday becomes profound. It's a photograph about finding yourself in a space.