Untitled n.d.

Curator: Nathan Lerner's gelatin-silver print, titled "Untitled," captures a street scene seemingly in the midst of urban renewal. The precise date is unknown. What's your initial read? Editor: The mood is melancholic, stark. The composition focuses sharply on the wet cobblestone street, reflecting a lamppost like a distorted mirror image. There’s a real grit and decay here, quite evocative. Curator: I agree. Looking closer, the seemingly haphazard arrangement of materials and infrastructure projects the labor required to create these urban spaces we often traverse with little thought. Think of the hands that laid these bricks, that maintained these infrastructures... Who benefitted? Who was left behind? This speaks to broader narratives of urban development and class divides, and I'm wondering how labor is embedded within such an image. Editor: Absolutely, that element of labor is palpable. Consider the materials: cobblestone, concrete, the metal of the lamppost and unseen pipes beneath. These are the very foundations, literally and figuratively, upon which cities are built. We rarely consider their extraction, processing, transportation… and of course, the humans who manage these elements daily. Curator: Exactly, and it speaks to the relationship between progress, dispossession, and environmental cost that are central to my own interests. Editor: Furthermore, the photograph itself becomes a document of material culture. It makes us consider photography as its own form of labor and consumption, producing images and stories out of the raw material of urban life. The means by which it captures and presents what it’s showing is inseparable from the social dynamics at work in the image. Curator: Precisely. By drawing our attention to what is typically overlooked, "Untitled" becomes a powerful reminder of the often-invisible processes of making, remaking, and unmaking. Editor: It reminds us to slow down, examine the world beneath our feet, and really engage with the infrastructures shaping our experiences and material conditions. Curator: Agreed. A moment for introspection amid the churn.