Untitled (portrait of two children, one with stuffed animal) c. 1940

Curator: This is an untitled piece, a photograph by John Deusing, depicting two children, one holding a stuffed animal. The artwork is held in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It's striking, unsettling even. The inverted tones give it this ghostly, almost otherworldly feel, like a memory fading. Curator: Indeed, the negative image transforms the familiar into something alien. It asks us to reconsider the photograph's role in preserving memory and representing childhood. Editor: And those serious little faces! There's no joy, no playfulness here. Only the stuffed animal offers a slight glimmer of comfort in what feels like a very serious world. Curator: Perhaps it is the world reflected back at us, the societal gaze imposed upon youth. Editor: It makes me wonder about the story behind the image. Did Deusing intend this sense of unease, or is it simply a result of the photographic process? Curator: It is this ambiguity, its ability to provoke questions about representation and reality, that makes this photograph so compelling. Editor: Agreed. It lingers, hauntingly beautiful.