On first viewing, Sugimoto’s photograph appears to be empty, a void. It is only after careful looking—a kind of sustained attention, like your eyes adapting to a room suddenly falling dark—that the subtle Ionian seascape emerges. The faint light shed by the moon on the water is a rewarding surprise for the viewer. I love this work because that adjustment reminds me of those briefly disorienting moments of darkness that we all experience at some point in our lives, which, with patience, gradually reveal familiar shapes.

Submitted by Argyro Nicolaou, 12-Month Intern, Department of Media and Performance Art