Untitled (baby girl playing with kitchen pot on living room floor) c. 1940 - 1962

Curator: This photograph by Martin Schweig, held in the Harvard Art Museums, presents a baby girl engrossed in play with a kitchen pot. Editor: The inversion of the negative gives it an eerie, dreamlike quality, like a memory fading at the edges. Curator: Absolutely. The pot, in this domestic setting, becomes a symbol of potential and transformation. A tiny subversion of her expected role. Editor: I see that, but also how universal these domestic objects are. The pot is an ancient symbol. It speaks to childhood, but also to something timeless. Curator: It is interesting to consider how Schweig, as a photographer, frames childhood and the space of the home in relation to gendered expectations. Editor: Yes, the ordinary elevated. It makes you consider the weight of these commonplace, repeated moments. Curator: Well, I’ve found a new perspective on the social and political implications of play within the domestic sphere. Editor: And I'm reminded of the symbolic power inherent in the simplest objects. A beautiful image.