Stairs, Mexico City (section)

Tina Modotti made this photograph in Mexico City in 1925, during the most creative years of her short life. Instead of pointing her camera at people or grand buildings, she chose something most of us walk past without a second thought: a plain set of stairs. The image is all about shapes and shadows. You can see the diagonal lines of a railing cutting across the top, the flat gray of a wall, and the steps descending into the lower corner. There is no story being told here, just the quiet play of light on simple surfaces.

Modotti lived a remarkable life. Born in Italy, she worked as an actress, a model, and eventually a photographer before becoming deeply involved in political activism. She learned photography from Edward Weston, and you can feel his influence in this picture's clean focus on form. Pictures like this one belong to a modernist way of seeing, where ordinary objects become worth studying for their own sake. It is a modest image, but that is part of its charm. Modotti reminds us that beauty can hide in the most everyday corners, even a stairwell.