The Darkness of the Border

Black stripes surround the dark gray earth. The columns tell us this dark gray is beneath a roof. But which roof, we do not know. The stripes have been drawn repeatedly to emphasize the darkness of the border. The camera flash’s shadow doubles this darkness and makes it ghostly. Yet, thanks to this light, some parts of the dark border are illuminated so the darkness is not boundless. A little girl in red bows her head to cross the dark border. Her hair covers her face. We cannot see her expression. But she seems determined. She wants to pass through the darkness of the border and beyond the photograph’s border. She goes outside this land and outside this picture, to a side we cannot see or know. We know that this side is full of closure and blockage. So, with our imagination, we walk alongside the little girl in red to that other side of knowing.