Carnival in the Village 1946 - 1949

Paula Horn Kotis made this print of a picture of a carnival. Maybe she shot it herself? I see the glare of the lights bouncing off a vendor’s metal awning, and there’s a young guy working, looking out, maybe bored, maybe not. You can see the lights of the carnival blurred into streaks behind him. It has that old-timey snapshot vibe, but it's also got this stark geometry, everything sliced up, and you feel the human presence smack in the middle. I bet Kotis felt the tug of everyday life against all the artificial light and forced fun. I look at his face and wonder about his life outside of that booth. He could be a painter or maybe a poet. He is definitely cool though. This photograph does what the best paintings do: it captures a feeling, a slice of life, a kind of poetry. It’s a simple moment, but it says a lot about us, or about one of us, anyway. Artists do this for each other, across time.