West Haven, Connecticut (TV with small flag) 1971

Curator: Dennis Feldman's black and white photograph, "West Haven, Connecticut (TV with small flag)," really strikes me. What do you see first? Editor: The television set, definitely. Its placement on the picnic table feels almost ceremonial, a modern idol amid the pastoral scene. There's a certain nostalgia, even melancholy, to the image. Curator: Absolutely. The television, with what appears to be a Black family pictured on its screen, serves as a powerful symbol. Juxtaposed with the car and trailers, it invites us to consider notions of leisure, access, and belonging in a deeply classed and racialized America. Editor: It's interesting how the antenna echoes the trees in the background, linking technology and nature, the artificial and the organic. Curator: It is a photo layered with the paradox of progress. Editor: Indeed, and a potent image to ponder.