Untitled (group of children on stairs) 1947

Curator: John Howell’s small, undated photograph at the Harvard Art Museums shows a group of children on a set of stairs. It measures only about 4 by 5 inches. Editor: It feels like a forgotten dream—the inverted tones give everyone this ethereal, almost haunting quality, like memories flickering at the edge of sight. Curator: Looking at the inverted negative, I am drawn to the technical process, the darkroom alchemy that transformed light and chemicals into this image of collective youth. It speaks of time-intensive craft. Editor: The staircase becomes a stage, doesn't it? A liminal space between here and there, the known and the unknown. These kids, suspended, waiting... Curator: The group dynamic and rigid construction is interesting to me. Consider, too, the social context around the labour involved in producing such a photograph. Editor: There's a stillness, but beneath it, a restless energy. I keep wondering what they’re all thinking, poised between childhood and whatever comes next. Curator: Absolutely. It's these historical techniques, these material processes, that give even everyday images their unique charge. Editor: And it’s the charge, the emotional resonance, that helps the past echo into the present, isn’t it?