Untitled 1978

Editor: Here we have Peter Campus’s “Untitled” photograph from 1978, a gelatin-silver print. It's strikingly intimate, a very close-up self-portrait, I think, but there's something unsettling about the hand obscuring the face. What symbols or readings do you draw from it? Curator: Indeed, the obscuring hand is potent. Think of hands in art history - blessing, labor, supplication. Here, it veils, it hides. Do you get a sense of why? What historical understanding of identity in art might be helpful? Editor: I'm guessing this comes down to the gaze. The single visible eye stares right at you, and I’m tempted to read some idea about hiding as a reaction to being perceived… Curator: Exactly. In the '70s, conceptual artists deeply questioned representation. Is this merely a portrait, or an interrogation of self-perception? The partial obscuration reminds me of mourning veils – another cultural symbol. It creates both revelation and concealment. Does this remind you of any classic artworks or popular motifs? Editor: It has echoes of photography about trauma – but I'm wondering why make that connection? The picture is very cool in its aesthetic approach. I am missing something about historical self-expression! Curator: Let’s not disregard your intuition! Consider the psychological implications: fragmented identity, the desire to control one’s image in a world increasingly mediated. It speaks to deeper, possibly hidden, anxieties. So trauma resonates, as a symbol and as lived experience. Editor: So, it's both about the self being fractured by observation, and by personal, hidden anxieties and experience – a duality reflected in light and dark. It's more complicated than I first assumed! Curator: Precisely. Visual symbols rarely hold singular meanings. It is through these multiple layers of meaning we see the artist struggling with historical, cultural, and emotional symbols.