Children of Vision

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Special Guest Feature: Raoul Eshelman

Photo by Lara Giacoman, 7, Spain

“This is a wonderfully funny and enigmatic photo.

What makes the picture special is not just the comically exaggerated foot of the girl's shadow, but the uncanny sense of depth that is created by the contrast between the clearly outlined foot, the blurry background patterns, and what appear to be scratches on the negative. This makes it impossible to safely establish our own position as viewers in relation to the girl. Are we behind her, above her, or below her?

The photo becomes a picture puzzle that causes us to switch involuntarily between different spatial perspectives.”


Raoul Eshelman

Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. Prof. Eshelman has a special interest in the visual art and is an author of numerous articles on photography, film, literature and architecture as well as two books on development of culture across different disciplines