Street Map (#1) Possibly 1986 - 1994

Curator: Jim Goldberg's “Street Map (#1),” a gelatin silver print, dating probably from the late 80s to the early 90s. What strikes you initially about this piece? Editor: There’s an immediate intimacy… the stark contrast emphasizes the hands, bringing a kind of clandestine moment into focus. And that blurred background? Gives it a raw, urgent feel. Curator: That’s precisely it! Goldberg captures reality head-on. The grainy texture only adds to the sensation that we are viewing a reality unfiltered, spontaneous. Those hands seem preoccupied. Editor: Definitely preoccupied. Lighting a cigarette, maybe? It's such a small, everyday gesture, yet the intensity of the image elevates it, makes it... symbolic. Is this a moment of solace or contemplation caught amid the city's chaos? Or is it something simpler, more straightforward? Curator: Or perhaps the opposite. Consider the symbolism. The lighting of a cigarette might symbolize transition, fleeting pleasures, or even a ritual of self-destruction. What else might it suggest to us? Editor: It brings up this timeless quality of rituals performed in the city, a continuity of gestures despite changing times. The way Goldberg framed it, with the almost sacred quality of the hands and that small flame against the blurry urban sprawl... it makes me wonder about the little unnoticed things that connect us all, the silent language we all share in this metropolis. Curator: I think you have a good point about rituals, in fact. But I tend to interpret Goldberg’s lens as casting light onto figures otherwise living in the shadows, offering a raw yet compassionate view of a world that’s both vulnerable and resilient. Editor: Exactly, and maybe those flickers of light in the background aren’t just light. Perhaps they represent aspirations, or memories flickering just out of grasp, making the simple act of lighting up somehow more meaningful and sad at the same time. Curator: I concur. In this photographic slice of reality, Goldberg unveils a city’s concealed stories. What begins as a simple black-and-white photograph blossoms into something that probes deep into our humanity. Editor: It’s the ordinary made extraordinary, the silent language of the city laid bare, captured for our lasting contemplation.