New York 1987

Editor: Here we have Rosalind Solomon's black and white photograph, "New York," from 1987. It looks like a snapshot of a couple sharing an intimate moment. It has an almost journalistic feel. What's your take on it? Curator: As a materialist, I immediately consider the context of production. This wasn't a digital image; Solomon would have meticulously chosen her film, developing process, and printing techniques to achieve this specific tonal range and texture. The gritty contrast isn't just aesthetic. What does that labor, the choice of those specific materials in 1987, tell us about how photography was positioned, and about what kind of exchange Solomon was hoping for with her viewer? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn't thought about the physicality of the photographic process so much. So, the choice of black and white… how would that affect things? Curator: Black and white inherently adds a layer of abstraction. It's not how we typically *see*. By stripping the scene of color, it focuses our attention on form, texture, and, crucially, the social dynamics presented. In what way can we understand her decision to do this, and what specific aesthetic and social codes that aesthetic brings to it, if we don't carefully observe the actual techniques and production process? Is it, in its way, already coding this everyday couple with a new value or purpose? Editor: So it's like… Solomon's choices elevated a seemingly mundane moment through careful technical application. Thinking about it that way helps me see it differently. Curator: Exactly! The choices of materials and their manipulation *are* the meaning, not just a way to record a scene. We must look to the concrete ways that image was produced and distributed if we’re ever to approach truly grasping the social reality it both inhabits and comments on. Editor: That makes sense. Thanks! I’ll definitely pay more attention to the materials and production from now on.