The Prom Queen 1991

Curator: This black and white photograph by Nancy Andrews, taken in 1991, is entitled "The Prom Queen." Editor: The first thing that strikes me is the intimacy – it’s celebratory but also very tender. Almost dreamlike with that high contrast. Curator: Absolutely. Andrews often worked with gelatin-silver print, and it's the process itself, that tangible darkroom magic, that lends this piece its almost haunting quality. Editor: Yes, you see the grain. It’s so raw and real. Thinking about process...these photos aren't churned out and immediately forgotten, uploaded on social media for likes, they exist almost as documents. There is an implicit tension with the superficiality of high school social hierarchy. The labor and materials versus a single fleeting night. Curator: True. Though Andrews often worked to document social issues of her time, she created these beautifully, artful, yet casual portraits which almost invites the viewer in, as if they too are a friend in attendance. In moments of victory or high emotion we often grasp those that we cherish most as she captures so poignantly. What do you imagine the back story here might be? Editor: The fact that she's being kissed by a woman at prom – which I imagine was taken from some personal experience of Nancy – it shatters expectations. But what's powerful is how natural, how joyful, they look. Who needs a king? Look how effortlessly she presents the rose bouquet... I wonder what materials were used in that beautiful handmade tiara? Is it steel-based? Is the gown velvet, or a synthetic of some kind? Curator: Well, one might ponder, doesn't Andrews want to imply that the only "real" materials, or what is lasting here, is the profoundness of the shared affections. Not to be all romantic about it, of course! Editor: Ah, yes. While I'm analyzing the socioeconomic statement made by the photograph, you're floating off into poetic ether! Perhaps both the emotional intimacy and the document of production are coexisting in the same still life. Curator: Possibly. All I can be certain of is the striking dichotomy between this quiet moment captured, compared to the frenetic nature of a High School prom! What stays with you most? Editor: Definitely how Andrews has taken an object as cliché and capitalized by late-stage capitalism and repurposed its meaning. I will consider Andrews a documentarian of a shift.