Listera reniformis- Kidney-leaved Twayblade 1931

Curator: It has this very delicate feel to it, almost like you're looking at a secret garden in miniature. Editor: This is "Listera reniformis- Kidney-leaved Twayblade," a gelatin-silver print from 1931 by Edwin Hale Lincoln. It’s part of the collection here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. What strikes me immediately is the starkness of the medium paired with the fragility of the subject matter. The gelatin silver printing process emphasizes tonal range. Curator: Yes, exactly, that delicate, almost ghostly feel. You wouldn't expect such tenderness to come through in a silver print. There is something a little melancholic, you know? These little plants braving on some undefined landscape. It's also this great play of light and shadow, lending depth and complexity to something that's inherently very simple, you know? Editor: And there's labor involved, not only in the growing and cultivating the orchids themselves, which need care, but the technical and the physical effort required to produce that gelatin-silver print in a darkroom. Consider the photographer’s intentional staging, careful processing, choice of paper—every decision is a physical engagement with material reality. The level of intervention that's part of photographic "realism" should be noted. Curator: The formal composition guides your eye right along those ascending stalks. Editor: I see a commentary on our relationship with nature. By focusing on a tiny bit of land, in the face of expanding industrialized economies, it makes a case for preserving those shrinking spaces and valuing the labour and attention that they deserve. Curator: Right. He really zeroes in on this small world to suggest something larger, about fragility, time passing. Editor: I think we’re both responding to a tension captured here. The stark reality of the photographic medium and our idealized view of nature—one small segment on the forest floor representing the forest overall. Curator: Absolutely. Something fleeting held firm, if only for a while. Editor: Yes, precisely. Thanks to its realism, it remains, still, very current.