Sutton, Vermont 1990

Sheron Rupp’s photograph, Sutton, Vermont, gives us this candid portrait of three children against the backdrop of a trailer. Rupp’s approach here feels rooted in the everyday. There's a kind of raw honesty in her work. The color palette is muted, natural. The light is flat, yet it reveals all these subtle textures - the girl's knitted sweater, the corrugated metal of the trailer, even the children's hair. There’s a visible grain to the photograph, which reminds us of the materiality of the image itself. It’s a physical thing, not just a window. Look at the way the eldest girl crosses her arms. There’s a gravity there, a weight. But there’s also a vulnerability in their expressions. Rupp's work reminds me a bit of Nan Goldin’s, in the sense that both artists capture intimate moments with a directness that can be both disarming and deeply moving. But where Goldin often focuses on the intensity of nightlife, Rupp finds her subjects in the quiet corners of rural life. It's a reminder that art doesn't always have to shout to be heard; sometimes, the most powerful statements are whispered.