Trash 1970

Walker Evans made this image, a photograph called 'Trash'. I love the fact that this image has such a blunt, declarative title. But it’s more than just some discarded waste; it’s a composition, a quiet still life. There's a flattened geometry to the image, and the way that these discarded materials seem to arrange themselves against the grey backdrop—it feels deliberate, almost staged. I can imagine Evans, in his own way, seeing beauty and order in the overlooked fragments of everyday life. Photography, like painting, offers a way of really looking, of seeing the world anew. I wonder if he knew that he was in dialog with artists, across time, when he took this image? Evans captured a moment, and also maybe hinted at our own transient existence, the ways we leave traces of ourselves behind. What do you see?