Freckie, Heather, and Chance, Sunnyside Hotel 1989

Curator: Jim Goldberg captured this scene, "Freckie, Heather, and Chance, Sunnyside Hotel," back in 1989, using gelatin silver print to freeze this particular moment in time. Editor: It feels instantly melancholic to me, this gray-scale starkness contrasted with such intimate moments… There's an unsettling exposure of vulnerability here. Curator: Vulnerability certainly. Goldberg's work often deals with the fringes of society, shining a light on stories we tend to overlook. The Rosary and band t-shirts feel loaded here in the composition, almost confrontational. Editor: Agreed. And thinking of production, the use of black and white intensifies the rawness. I imagine the photographer amidst the space— what does the act of photographing in this context even look like for the subjects of the photograph? Were these photographs produced on-site, given the immediate material circumstances portrayed here? Curator: The location and moment he has chosen speaks of impermanence, which may even lend to the reading of vulnerability. The subjects, Freckie, Heather, and Chance appear to grapple for affection amidst the chaos— an affection that exists at once, behind a sort of performative persona— an early Gen X love, maybe? Editor: Possibly. Consider the labor involved here, from Goldberg’s initial capture to the development of the print itself. These silver gelatin prints were often used because they could capture detail and tonal range. Are they supposed to communicate the idea that every feeling counts or every labor, perhaps? The photograph feels a bit staged... the labor is a bit suspect? Curator: It certainly plays with a staged sensibility, and that liminality gives the viewer a discomfort— how "authentic" is the artist being about his subjects? But it’s not unusual. The photograph reflects a deeper yearning. Despite the roughness of the surroundings, the symbols— like the rosary beads— still offer glimpses of enduring values that provide meaning even in transient conditions. Editor: Right. And while the composition highlights raw, interpersonal realities, the medium of photography is almost complicit in aestheticizing poverty… Curator: Indeed, the tension adds to the photograph’s strength, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Certainly does. Food for thought— considering image, moment, subjects. Curator: The layers embedded offer reflections on the world around us all.