Untitled (re-photographed 19th century image of woman in black dress) 1900 - 1950

Editor: This is Martin Schweig’s "Untitled (re-photographed 19th century image of woman in black dress)." It's a photo of a photo, a nineteenth-century portrait of a woman, re-photographed. It feels like a ghostly echo of the past. What can you tell me about its context? Curator: This work raises questions about the politics of representation. Re-photography invites us to consider how images circulate and are re-contextualized over time. How does Schweig's act of re-photographing this earlier image change its meaning and impact? Editor: It makes me think about how we look at historical images, our perspective now versus then. Curator: Exactly. Think about who controlled image-making and circulation then, and who does now. Schweig's work can be viewed as a commentary on the democratization, or perhaps commodification, of images. Editor: I hadn’t thought about it that way, that’s fascinating. Curator: These kinds of conversations around the image are so important.