Untitled (grocery store employee posed smiling while holding bunch of bananas) 1968 - 1971

Editor: This photograph by Martin Schweig features a grocery store employee holding bananas. The inverted tones give it an unsettling feeling, almost like a memory fading. What symbols jump out at you? Curator: The bananas, of course, are the most obvious. They represent abundance, certainly, but also perhaps a fleeting, easily spoiled nature. Note the employee's somewhat strained smile, juxtaposed with the pristine tie. Does this suggest a tension between labor and presentation? Editor: That's a great point. I hadn't considered the forced smile. Curator: And the watch! A symbol of time, of course, but also status. What stories do you think this image tries to tell? Editor: I see layers of meaning now. Thanks! Curator: Indeed, the everyday can hold surprising depths.