Untitled (eight children playing tug-of-war outdoors with baby sitting in front of them) 1961

Curator: I'm struck by the diagonal lines cutting across this image, leading the eye towards the unseen horizon. Editor: This photograph, by Martin Schweig, is simply titled “Untitled,” and captures eight children playing tug-of-war, with a baby sitting in the foreground. It certainly has a raw energy. Curator: That energy comes, I think, from the children’s mirroring of each other: a visual rhythm emphasizing the collective endeavor, the push and pull that mirrors social cohesion. Editor: And the tonality; the photograph's inversion of light creates a dreamlike quality, separating the children's game from a clear sense of time. A memory perhaps? Curator: Indeed. It feels like a scene plucked from the collective unconscious. The game itself is archetypal, the struggle a metaphor for life's challenges. Editor: So, in essence, we're presented with a layered image, playing on contrasts between light and shadow, individual and collective, memory and immediate action. Curator: A potent distillation of childhood experience. Editor: Quite. Schweig offers much for interpretation in this singular image.