Untitled 1992

This is an untitled photograph by Thomas Roma, and it seems to capture a moment frozen in time, a slice of life with all its raw emotion and unexpected drama. The greyscale tonality is carefully observed, and printed with love. There's so much happening, it’s like a stage play, but real, with its own kind of messy, unscripted beauty. My eye’s drawn to the embrace on the left, the man in the suit, the woman with her arm raised, and of course, the man sprawled on the floor. That detail, that body prostrate, is something else. It's not just a body, but a form, a shape, a curve against the angular lines of the room. The picture-making here feels related to, I don't know, maybe Garry Winogrand, in the way the image refuses to resolve itself into a clear narrative. The picture becomes a mirror reflecting our own projections and interpretations. Isn't that what art is all about? A conversation, not a lecture, an invitation to feel and think, not just to see.