South View from 335 East 9th Street, Manhattan 1990

Madoka Takagi made this gelatin silver print, capturing a south-facing view from a Manhattan rooftop. Photography, though now ubiquitous, has a rich history tied to industrial chemistry and optics. Light, focused through a lens, interacts with silver halide crystals on treated paper, a process refined over decades of material science. Here, Takagi's choices are particularly evocative. The black and white medium lends a sense of starkness. The cracked surfaces of the rooftop, the worn textures of the structures, and the distant, looming World Trade Center evoke the gritty, sometimes fragile nature of urban life. This photograph, a result of both artistic vision and industrial processes, prompts us to consider photography not just as documentation, but as a crafted object, bearing the weight of its materials and methods. It challenges us to see the artistry in the everyday and the labor inherent in every image.