Untitled (man with arm in mechanical sling) c. 1950

This photograph, made by Robert Burian, captures a man with his arm in a mechanical sling. Photography is often thought of as a purely representational medium, but it’s also deeply material. This particular image, rendered as a negative, reveals the layered processes involved in its creation. Consider the labor involved: from the manufacture of the photographic materials to the skilled work of the photographer, who had to pose his model just so. The array of metal and leather straps contrasts sharply with the subject’s tailored jacket and trousers. It begs the question: did he make the sling himself? The very nature of this image—a reversed tonality—pushes us to think about the layers of representation and human intervention involved in what we see. It encourages us to consider how material and making shape meaning, blurring lines between art and documentation.