Queensboro Bridge c. 20th century

Editor: This is Hugh Botts' "Queensboro Bridge." It's an etching, and there's something so gritty and human about this depiction of urban life under this massive industrial structure. What story do you think Botts is telling? Curator: Well, consider the historical context. The Queensboro Bridge represented progress, but for whom? The figures in the foreground, seemingly marginalized, exist in the shadow of this monument to industry. It prompts us to question the true cost of urban development and its impact on different communities. Editor: That’s a perspective I hadn't fully considered. Seeing it as a commentary on social disparity rather than just a celebration of engineering… it shifts the whole meaning. Curator: Exactly. Art invites us to interrogate the power dynamics embedded within our built environment.