Untitled (baby fawns and cow) c. 1950

Curator: The composition feels very classical. Almost like a modern-day Madonna and child—or, in this case, children. Editor: This is an Untitled photograph by Jack Gould, depicting baby fawns suckling from a cow, part of the collection at the Harvard Art Museums. It’s compact, only about 25 centimeters wide. Curator: The contrast between the smooth, large form of the cow and the delicate, spotted fawns is compelling. It's a stark, almost brutal, juxtaposition of dependency. Editor: Absolutely. The fawns are placed directly under the cow, in what could be interpreted as a maternal and protective pose. But the artificiality of the situation—the suggestion that these fawns are suckling from the cow out of necessity—speaks to the historical intersection of human intervention and animal agency. Curator: There's a tenderness, yet also a sense of displacement. The cow offers sustenance, but it isn't their mother. Editor: Precisely. I find myself contemplating the ethics of care and the imposed relationships between species within our ecosystem. Curator: It's certainly a piece that invites deeper reflection on our interspecies relationships.