Untitled (family outside next to car) c. 1970

Editor: This is an untitled photograph by C. Bennette Moore, showing a family standing next to a car. It feels like a snapshot of a specific moment. What can you tell us about the context of this kind of image? Curator: Well, mass-produced cameras democratized image-making. This image, likely a family’s personal record, gains new meaning when preserved by institutions. What was once purely personal becomes a publicly available document. Editor: So, the act of preservation changes the artwork's function? Curator: Precisely. Its value shifts from private memory to a piece of social history. It prompts us to consider who is represented, and by whom, in archives. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure.