Passersby Watch Police and Ambulance Attendants after Edward White was Killed Yesterday 23 - 1949

Arthur Ellis took this photograph, Passersby Watch Police and Ambulance Attendants after Edward White was Killed Yesterday, at an unknown date. It's a scene frozen in time, a crowd gathered, a body prone on the ground. I can only imagine what it must have felt like to be there, to witness such a moment of stark reality. Look at the faces in the crowd. What were they thinking? What were they feeling? Maybe Ellis felt a sense of responsibility, a need to document this event. You have to think about the history that shaped Ellis and influenced his work. What other photographs did he take? How did this one fit into his broader artistic practice? Photography is about capturing a moment, but it's also about telling a story. I think Ellis wanted to say something about the human condition, about injustice, about the way we live together. I think all artists are trying to find a way to make sense of the world, and maybe this was his way of doing it.