Ditch Lake 1999

Curator: Here we have Larry Stark's "Ditch Lake" from the Harvard Art Museums collection. It’s a captivating image, I think. Editor: It does possess an enchanting quality. There’s something incredibly still about it, a liminal space rendered in light and shadow. The mirroring effect in the water is profound. Curator: Stark invites us into a space where the boundary between earth and water blurs. Are there symbolic resonances here, do you think, in the relationship between these trees and their liquid reflections? Editor: Absolutely. Water is almost universally a symbol of the unconscious, and the trees acting as a kind of portal, with their roots submerged, suggest a venture into the depths of the psyche. Curator: A venture to find something lost, maybe? Or simply to witness the beauty of a world both familiar and mysterious... Editor: Perhaps both—beauty often conceals mystery, doesn’t it? This image reminds me that there’s more to see beneath the surface of things. Curator: That's so true. A moment held captive, isn't it, as the artist reminds us of the quiet poetry of existence.