Dick Hughes, Shenango Ingot Molds (Working People series) 1983

Milton Rogovin made this black and white photograph as part of his Working People series. It's a portrait of a man and a woman, possibly in their home. Look at how Rogovin has framed his subjects amid their personal belongings – Elvis posters, dolls in plastic covers. What do these objects tell us about their lives, their dreams? I wonder, was it easy for the artist to come into people's homes? It's intimate, the composition feels very tender. The more you look at it, the more you can imagine what it might have been like to be there in that room with them. Rogovin's sensitivity reminds me of other photographers who documented everyday life, like, say, Walker Evans or Diane Arbus. Each photographer captures a sense of human dignity in working class life. It is, after all, a conversation through time; each photographer picks up the thread from the other, inspiring new ways of seeing and feeling.