Winter 2015

Curator: Immediately, I’m struck by the intense glare. A real sensory overload here! It almost feels painful to look directly at the traffic lights piercing through what looks like a wintery rain. Editor: Yes, Elina Brotherus' c-print, “Winter,” produced in 2015, really captures a specific urban experience. It’s fascinating to consider the material choices; the C-print process lends itself to these vivid colors and almost artificial glows. How do you think she achieved this level of almost aggressive luminosity? Curator: Considering the production methods of street photography at this scale is very interesting. It must have involved considerable labor. We tend to ignore that these striking street photographs often require careful post-processing too. The photographer is transforming a mundane street view into a manufactured statement piece, drawing on techniques available through photographic printing technology. Editor: Absolutely, it makes you consider who the streets are built for and who benefits from the infrastructures that dominate this composition. Visually, Brotherus seems to be channeling urban alienation, where the individual is dwarfed by concrete and artificial light. Curator: Agreed. There's an element of surveillance apparent, through these dominant lights and the blurring around the image, like our vision is obscured. The very construction materials of the underpass emphasize division and social stratification—the ‘haves’ above, traveling freely, and the ‘have-nots’ below, caught in a gridlocked cycle. I imagine the soundscape would be as oppressive as the visuals suggest. Editor: Precisely, this connects to conversations around infrastructural racism where the material environment perpetuates unequal access and movement based on class and race. I think Brotherus cleverly layers a conversation around climate; considering ecological breakdown as another form of social oppression. That’s how she's commenting on societal problems in urban areas. Curator: That’s a great connection to our reality. It's not just about what is seen in the picture but about the economic machine churning away in the background to make this single c-print possible and to ensure this division and imbalance keeps ticking. The street and road below serve the underpass! Editor: Indeed, that is the cycle that traps and upholds social hierarchies! I see now a layering here that goes beyond simple urban aesthetics and addresses contemporary realities. Curator: Thinking through these combined lenses, I think I see the value this work holds for the everyday citizen, its true impact—I wasn’t seeing this picture initially, but our dialogue brings value to the whole discourse around photography as an agent for raising difficult societal questions. Editor: Exactly. Hopefully, the act of deconstruction creates conversations in different disciplines. This should spark new ideas about resistance, or it is at least thought-provoking for someone out there.