Untitled #49 (Sally Salt Says) 1999

Anna Gaskell made this photograph, Untitled #49 (Sally Salt Says), and right away you can see that she’s thinking about how the light hits the girl's face, how it almost sculpts the planes of her cheeks and forehead. It’s all about the process of seeing, of making something emerge from the dark. The surface is glossy, almost slick, and that sheen makes the colors pop. Look at the way her red hair catches the light, those fiery strands feel almost like brushstrokes. It’s like she’s painting with light and shadow, using the camera to build up layers of emotion. Notice the way the hair in her hands veils part of her face: the colour contrast with her skin, that tension between hiding and revealing, is what the photograph is all about. There’s something about this image that reminds me of Francesca Woodman's photographs. Both artists play with the idea of self-portraiture, with this sense of performance and transformation, and with the mystery of being seen. Ultimately, art is a conversation, a back-and-forth, and Gaskell is speaking her own unique language here.