Untitled (nine women sitting on ledge) 1974

Curator: This photograph, by Ken Whitmire Associates, is simply titled "Untitled (nine women sitting on ledge)." It’s a small print, roughly 4 by 5 inches, housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: I'm immediately struck by the inverted tonality—it’s like seeing a world turned inside out, a ghost of a memory. Curator: Indeed. Note the arrangement of the women, their positioning relative to the ledge. Observe also the formal qualities of line and shape, especially the interplay between the women's figures and the architecture. Editor: And that sculpture behind them! It looks like birds taking flight. It gives me a sense of hope, a feeling of lightness, which is interesting when juxtaposed with the… ghostly quality of the photograph itself. Curator: Precisely. The contrast is striking, perhaps even intentional, creating a tension between the static and the dynamic. Editor: It’s a quiet piece, but it speaks volumes about presence and absence, about the seen and the unseen. I like it. Curator: I concur. A deceptively simple composition that yields rich analytical possibilities.