"Doris Wright, February 1959" 1959

This black and white photograph, simply titled "Doris Wright, February 1959," was made by an anonymous artist, sometime around then. The grey tones give it a subdued, thoughtful quality. The composition feels off-kilter, like a snapshot caught mid-motion. I’m drawn to the shadows that define the space around Doris, that weird corner above her head. The way the light falls feels so real, and the contrast between the light and shadow is pretty stark. You get a sense of a specific moment, in an interior space, but it also could be anywhere, and any time. It reminds me of some of the early experiments with photography by artists like Gerhard Richter, where the focus is on the banality of the everyday. It makes you think about how photography can turn the ordinary into something kind of poignant and mysterious. It’s an ongoing conversation about seeing and feeling, and how we relate to the world around us.