Century House, Grafton, West Virginia 1993

Curator: This black and white photograph, taken in 1993 by James Welling, is entitled "Century House, Grafton, West Virginia". It offers a striking view of a seemingly ordinary house. Editor: My first thought is that there's a bleakness here. The monochromatic tones definitely lend a melancholic air to this structure. I’m struck by the austerity of the facade, almost brutal in its simplicity. Curator: Indeed. While ostensibly a study of architecture, it evokes themes of resilience and the passage of time. Houses, particularly older ones, are heavy with stories, symbols of generational continuity and rootedness. Do you see it here, amidst the image’s stillness? Editor: I see the opposite, really. The siding of the house seems almost mass-produced; each stone panel nearly identical. And there’s something slightly off, the angle of the roofline, a certain shoddiness in the visible construction... Curator: Perhaps Welling seeks to comment on the contrast between the ideals of “home” and the realities of lived spaces. Consider Grafton’s history – a railway town, rife with industry and labor. The house, in turn, could then represent the aspirations and the economic constraints of those who inhabited it. Editor: Right. The very materiality screams function over form. Look at the stone – it seems almost like a veneer, applied superficially rather than integral to the structure. Makes me think of production quotas and cheaper, readily-available materials compromising aesthetic choices, reflecting wider socio-economic pressures of that era. Curator: I read its historical context quite differently. While the economic determinism of the siding can't be ignored, for me the chimney speaks of hearth, a vital symbol of familial comfort in even the most challenging material circumstances. The stark realism in its documentation hints at deep roots of culture, of heritage and place. Editor: A vital reminder that the story isn’t simply about construction materials, but what such construction tells us about lived lives. I now see its facade through different eyes. Curator: Precisely. It's about the meaning, sometimes contradictory, we construct around even the most unassuming dwellings. Editor: A fitting note, suggesting architecture, labor, and visual experience create cultural artifacts that exceed their component materials and come to house ideas we inhabit, as well.