Untitled (medium format images of young boy and young girl playing) 1965 - 1970

Curator: This gelatin silver print by Martin Schweig features a double exposure of a young boy and girl playing. The dimensions are quite intimate, only about 6 by 12 centimeters. Editor: It’s immediately striking—uncanny, even. The tonal inversions create a haunting effect, especially in the image of the girl with the doll. The contrast feels almost gothic. Curator: Indeed, the reversed tonality shifts our focus to the photographic process itself. The materiality of the gelatin silver print becomes prominent, drawing attention to the darkroom manipulation inherent in its creation. Editor: And what of the children in the images, what materials shape their lives? The wallpaper in the girl's portrait, the rough rope of the boy's ladder—these seem to reference a specific lived experience, perhaps a tension between domesticity and adventure. Curator: Perhaps. Formally, the placement of the two images side by side creates a dialogue, a contrasting study in stillness and motion, interiority and exteriority. Editor: These ghostly figures, climbing or posing, remind us that photography, like memory, is never a straightforward record but a material construct. Curator: It’s a compelling piece that demonstrates the interplay of process and perception. Editor: Absolutely, it's a reminder that art is not just an image but the result of labor, context, and transformation.