Untitled [Girl in a Corner] 1972 - 1976

Joan Cassis made this photograph, Girl in a Corner, with film and light, and time. It's an image about seeing, but also about feeling— the texture of the wall, the weight of her arms. There's a real tenderness in the way Cassis captures this child. The light falls so gently, almost hesitant, on her face. You can see the grain of the wall, the scrawled writing, like a palimpsest of childhood. The girl's crossed arms make her look as though she is hugging herself. She appears melancholic, although it is also possible that she is caught in a moment of contemplation. It reminds me a little of some of Sally Mann's photographs, the way she finds beauty and depth in the everyday. Cassis is really focused on the materiality of the image, and the subject’s emotional presence. Art is a conversation, after all. It’s about how we see, how we feel, and how we connect.