Untitled (medium format images of baby girl on tricycle in yard) 1966

Curator: This is an untitled work by Martin Schweig, composed of medium format images of a baby girl on a tricycle. Editor: There's something haunting about the negative exposure here—like peering into a faded memory. Curator: Absolutely, the choice of medium emphasizes the material conditions of image making. The photographic process itself becomes visible, foregrounding how the image is constructed. Editor: It feels so personal, yet distant. What I'm feeling is kind of bittersweet—childhood joy filtered through some lens of experience. Curator: Well, consider the production of childhood itself, shaped by societal expectations, gender roles, and the labor involved in raising a child. Editor: True, but even the tricycle points to that—a manufactured joy, almost. A complex, evocative piece.