Untitled (portrait of a young woman in dress with floral pattern) c. 1930

This is an undated photograph by Paul Gittings, taken with an unknown photographic process. This portrait of an unknown young woman in a dress with a floral pattern is striking for the way it plays with light and shadow, which reverses our expectations of a portrait. In the negative space of the image, there is a ghostly and ethereal quality to the woman. We can consider how photography, particularly portrait photography, has historically been used to construct and reinforce societal norms around gender, race, and class. Perhaps Gittings is questioning traditional portraiture by using the photographic negative. The use of the negative might be seen as a metaphor for the hidden or repressed aspects of identity. Looking at this image, I wonder about the stories of women whose identities have been marginalized or erased. What does it mean to bring those figures to light, even in the inverted form of a photographic negative?