Untitled (woman or child playing pool) c. 1950

Editor: Here we have Jack Gould's "Untitled (woman or child playing pool)", a small, square photograph from the Harvard Art Museums. The way she is reaching suggests she is struggling to reach. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a tension between leisure and labor. The photograph's material conditions – its small scale, the Kodak safety film border – frame the subject's effort to overcome physical limitations, highlighting the labor embedded in the game, and perhaps, more broadly, in accessing leisure itself. Editor: That is interesting. I hadn't thought about the physical struggle and its connection to broader social access. Curator: Precisely. Considering the means of production and social context enriches our viewing experience. Editor: I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for your insight!