Untitled (mother and father kneeling with little girl seated at miniature piano) c. 1955

This photograph by Paul Gittings captures a domestic scene: a mother and father kneeling while their little girl sits at a miniature piano. The inverted colour palette emphasizes the surreal and dreamlike quality of the image. You get the sense of how carefully Gittings has thought about this composition. Maybe he’s arranging them there, shifting things just so; he wants to create an image of something real but also something staged. The mother, kneeling, looks out towards us, a slight smile on her face, almost as if she’s a performer. The father looks intently at the piano. What is he thinking? Is he aware of the photograph being taken or is he simply looking at his daughter with pride? It’s interesting how the photograph is a kind of performance of its own. Photographs create alternative realities, places where we can be reminded of family, but also reflect on broader social conditions.