New York, 2003, at Canal Street and Broadway Possibly 2003 - 2014

Leo Rubinfien made this photograph, New York, 2003, at Canal Street and Broadway, and right away, I’m thinking about the way the light falls in that kind of gray, urban way, and how that affects what we see. It's like Rubinfien is painting with light. The surface of this image, with its grainy texture, feels like you could reach out and touch it. This woman with the newspaper hides her face behind her hair, a shadow on the world. Those lines, they are all like gestures, each one so precise and considered, but together they feel so free and easy. It's the kind of image that feels like a memory or a dream – but also so utterly, palpably real. I’m reminded of Lisette Model and her street photography; the everyday, but looking at it in a way that suddenly makes it strange. This photo feels like a conversation, not just about what we see, but how we see it.