Amanda Ghiloni, 2022
Henry Callahan’s Eleanor, Chicago is a black and white photograph which shows his wife, Eleanor leaning on a dining chair in front of a completely empty wall barring a four-panel window. The distance between the subject and photographer, as well as the subject facing away, puts the viewer into a spectator role, looking in on an intimate moment between Callahan and his wife, as she stands nude and unaware or unbothered her husband’s presence, staying in her own world. Her posture is casual, leaning against a surface while glancing out a window, in thought. The framing of the picture contributes to the sense of intimacy, by making her take up a small space, but still being the focus of the image. The framing also adds a sense of spontaneity, as neither the lines of the window or of the break from wall to ceiling are straight, both are slightly askew in a way that suggest an unplanned capture of a moment, rather than a constructed piece. The photo as a whole is dark, excluding light shining in from the windows hitting the unseen front of the woman pictured. The fact that the viewer can’t see her illuminated side contributes to the spectator idea, as we are not privy to what the light illuminates, but only that she is illuminated. She is the subject, but she is not ours to consume, nor is the moment, we can only look in.
