Untitled (girl scouts posing in swimsuits with canoe) 1940

Editor: This is an untitled silver gelatin print by Hamblin Studio, showing girl scouts posing in swimsuits with a canoe. It feels incredibly staged and almost surreal, given the inverted tones. What's your read on this image? Curator: It's striking, isn’t it? The inverted tones create this otherworldly feel, almost like a dreamscape. I wonder if Hamblin was playing with the idea of nostalgia or perhaps commenting on the constructed nature of these idyllic summer moments. Or maybe they simply made an error in printing. Does the staging feel performative to you? Editor: It does. It makes me question the realness of these "natural" scenes. Curator: Exactly! Perhaps Hamblin is subtly hinting at the gap between reality and image, between the performance of girlhood and its messy, unfiltered truth. So many possibilities, no? Editor: Definitely gives you a lot to think about.