Untitled (boys playing on couch, baby looking into mirror) c. 1950

Curator: This small gelatin silver print, currently held at the Harvard Art Museums, is titled "Untitled (boys playing on couch, baby looking into mirror)" by Lucian and Mary Brown. Editor: There's something unsettling about this inverted image; it’s as if the children are playing in a negative space, an alternate reality. Curator: The reversal of tones definitely changes our perception. What might have been a simple domestic scene becomes surreal. Think about the history of photography, how the medium initially served as a documentary tool, and how artists like the Browns began experimenting, subverting expectations. Editor: And look at the couch, the weave so prominent, it feels like a landscape they're traversing. It really highlights the material world they are interacting with. Curator: Yes! Domesticity, captured and then subtly manipulated, invites questions about the role of photography in shaping our understanding of family and childhood. Editor: It leaves me wondering about the labor involved; the process of printing, the chemicals used. It's a poignant reminder that art is always the product of someone's labor.