Kelly after 1986

Editor: Here we have Jim Goldberg's photograph, "Kelly," created sometime after 1986. The black and white image depicts a young woman, with a roughly drawn square surrounding her outstretched hand. It’s a stark, almost haunting portrait. What do you see in this piece? Curator: What do I see? I see Goldberg poking at the idea of containment, doesn't he? This young woman, Kelly, she’s framed – literally, by this almost childlike drawing – but also figuratively, by our own preconceptions and the inherent limitations of a photograph. It's postmodern in that sense – acknowledging its own constructed nature. Does it remind you of someone looking out a window? Or maybe a caged animal? Editor: I hadn’t thought of the cage analogy, but I see it now! Is Goldberg making a comment on social constraints? Curator: Potentially! Think about the context – street photography. Goldberg often explored the margins of society. This photograph might be questioning how we perceive and confine individuals, especially those on the fringes. And that sketched box, it's so imperfect, so vulnerable, isn't it? As if it’s barely holding anything back…or maybe, anything in. Editor: So, the square isn't necessarily a boundary. It could also be a lens or a… well, like the *idea* of containment? Curator: Exactly! It becomes about perception. It's not just Kelly we're seeing; it's our own assumptions, our own ways of boxing people in. This image makes me really stop and ask – how do *I* do that, and how often? What boxes have *I* unwittingly drawn around myself? Editor: That's a really thought-provoking way to look at it. I initially just saw a portrait, but now I see so much more. Curator: Wonderful! It’s when the art makes us stop in our tracks like that, that's when it gets really juicy!