Untitled (door lined with greenery) c. 1950

Curator: This small, silver gelatin print by Lucian and Mary Brown captures a doorframe lined with greenery. It just feels haunted, doesn’t it? A beautiful, melancholic scene. Editor: Haunted, yes, but also constructed. The use of evergreens and what seem to be berries suggests a manufactured festivity, maybe even a critique of seasonal rituals. Curator: Or perhaps it’s about how we choose to decorate the thresholds in our lives, making the ordinary sacred, or at least… different. I wonder about their process of creation. Editor: The materiality speaks to the Browns' working methods. Look at the way they used what appears to be a Kodak safety film, and the artificial decorations contrasted against a stark interior. Curator: It's a fragile beauty, isn’t it? Like a memory threatening to fade. Editor: Right, and perhaps a comment on the mass-produced, ephemeral nature of those decorations and the fleeting quality of our celebrations. Curator: I think you’ve helped me understand a bit more of what it’s conveying. Thank you. Editor: Well, it's been my pleasure to analyze the layers within this image and the context they create.