Untitled (woman holding coffee pot) 1954

This photograph of a woman holding a coffee pot by Robert Burian at Harvard Art Museums shows her in a kind of dream-like apparition. I can only imagine what it was like for her to stand with a tray of delicate crockery, perhaps in an abandoned theatre or studio space? I think Burian wanted to capture something beyond the surface, a psychological state in the play of light and shadow. The photo’s monochrome palette with shades of grey makes me think about the absence of colour as a way to reveal the underlying structure of reality, or its ghost. The woman's form emerges from the darkness with an ethereal glow. It reminds me of the paintings of Philip Guston, which are so full of cartoonish figures and props, but somehow still manage to convey a deep sense of feeling. In both cases the human figure seems to be floating in a sea of uncertainty, where meanings are always shifting and changing. It’s a reminder that we are all in this ongoing conversation across time, inspiring each other’s creativity.