Untitled (woman seated on sofa with baby, young boy leans across her lap to hold baby's hand) after 1940

Paul Gittings created this photographic print of a mother and her two children. The artist made this artwork using photographic processes, which involve a chemical reaction to light, transforming an ordinary scene into a captured moment in time. The stark monochromatic tones speak to the materiality of the photograph itself: it's a physical object developed in a darkroom, and not simply a digital file. The photograph's composition invites questions about social dynamics, with the mother seated on a sofa that appears worn, suggesting a domestic setting marked by use and the everyday realities of family life. The act of capturing this scene preserves not just the individuals depicted but also the environment they inhabit, drawing attention to the often-unseen labor involved in maintaining a home and raising children. It blurs the lines between the personal and the political, making visible the material conditions of its subjects. In understanding the art, we recognize that the artist has an important role to play in making us see the reality of the ordinary.