Untitled 1908

This silver gelatin print was made by Lewis Hine, an American sociologist and photographer. Here is a picture of people going in and out of a building. It's not clear what kind of building this is. It could be a school, a factory, or a tenement. What's striking is the gathering of children; most of them are women with coverings on their heads, and long dresses. I look at this photo and I wonder about the artist at the moment of taking it. What's their state of mind? What do they want us to feel? What do they want us to see? It’s a complicated thing, to bear witness. It's kind of like painting in that way. You have your materials, and you have your subject matter. The image of the building is strong and present, but the main focus is on the people. We can see how the image is made, but we cannot know the answers to our questions about the people and the building in the image. Like painting, photography is an ongoing conversation, sparking endless creativity and ways of seeing.