Untitled (boy playing with blocks) c. 1950

Editor: Here we have an intriguing photograph from Lucian and Mary Brown, called "Untitled (boy playing with blocks)." It’s a small print, just 5 by 4 inches. I’m struck by the contrast and the seemingly mundane subject. What can you tell me about this piece? Curator: Notice how the image is made, a photographic negative. The process itself, the darkroom labor, becomes visible. What does that reversal of light and shadow suggest to you about the making of childhood itself? It’s constructed isn’t it, from raw materials, like these blocks. Editor: That's interesting. I never thought of it that way, seeing the materiality of both the blocks and the photo itself as building blocks. Curator: Exactly. Think of the labour involved, the wood, the printing, the Kodak paper… Editor: It makes you wonder about the intended audience and how it all comes together. Thanks, I am so glad to have seen this piece in this new light!