Untitled (girl stacking boxes) c. 1950

Curator: This intriguing photo, "Untitled (girl stacking boxes)" by Lucian and Mary Brown, really pulls you in, doesn’t it? Editor: It does. My first thought? That wallpaper is insane! And those simple boxes, it’s all so staged, even performative. Curator: Precisely. The Brown’s appear to be playing with ideas about labor and play here. The girl, possibly posed, is shown engaged in an activity that mixes domestic expectation with child's play. Editor: And the materiality is fascinating – the flatness of the photograph itself, contrasting with the depth of the interior and the boxes that suggest mass production, a contrast that gives the image such texture. What's interesting is not only the production of the image but the means of making the boxes and how they are made and for what uses. Curator: Right, it sparks conversations. The Browns use stark composition to leave us questioning the quiet complexities of childhood and the things we create. Editor: Agreed, after looking closer, there is certainly more here than meets the eye.