Laconia 

Editor: This is Devin Leonardi's photography titled "Laconia." There's a strong surreal quality to it; a group of figures illuminated in this striking blue hue on what seems to be the shore of a lake. What elements of the composition stand out to you most? Curator: The stark monochromatic palette commands immediate attention. Note the photograph's overall composition, this careful layering of horizontal bands: the deep, near-black line of trees against the blue gradient of the sky; the rippling water reflecting the dark mass; and finally the softly illuminated boat grounded in a sliver of shoreline. It evokes a liminal space. Editor: Liminal...like between worlds? Curator: Precisely. Consider the strategic use of light and shadow. The figures in the boat are rendered almost ethereally, their forms softened and subtly glowing, contrasting sharply with the depth of the blue that surrounds them. It gives rise to the sensation of dream or memory, less grounded in concrete reality. The flatness versus the three-dimensionality is very striking. Editor: It's interesting how the lighting almost flattens them while also highlighting them. How the structure leads our eyes across the picture is something that I hadn't thought of at first. Curator: What were your initial assumptions regarding the material qualities, scale and form? The medium, after all, also becomes part of the structure and affects our perceptions. Editor: I think it is bigger than I initially thought it was and appreciate how all the parts complement each other and how Leonardi used space. Thanks! Curator: And that space dictates how we experience that light. Always consider, even within what seems an evocative scene, the intrinsic structures the artist employed to create that evocation.