Soedanese vrouw op Java 1902

This stereograph, "Soedanese vrouw op Java", was created by Carleton Harlow Graves. Isn't it funny how the same image appears twice in stereographs? It's like Graves is saying, "Look, I really want you to see this." And what is it that he wants us to see? This woman, of course, who is anything but a blur, even if the picture is. There's a blurriness to the edges in this piece, a sort of out-of-focus dreaminess, that I really love. This blurring is key to the overall impact: the lack of clarity invites us to look closely. I get lost in the details of the foliage, the patterns of her wrap, the texture of the tree bark. Stereographs were supposed to offer a window onto the world, a factual record of a place and time. But isn't it funny how art always sneaks in, even when you least expect it? In this piece the hand of the artist is invisible, but the artistic effect is not. Like Edward Steichen, Graves transforms the photograph into something rich and strange. It reminds us that all art-making involves choices, and that even the most documentary of forms can be bent to expressive purposes.