Overview
“Equivalents” are artworks, often
photographs, that mirror emotional or
psychological states. The term was first
used by Alfred Stieglitz in the 1920s,
describing his cloud photographs as visual
expressions of feeling rather than
representations of the sky. For Stieglitz,
these images were not ‘of’ clouds but
‘through’ clouds: emotional landscapes
made visible. Later, Minor White expanded
this concept, viewing photography as a tool
for spiritual reflection. In both approaches,
the subject matter is secondary. What
matters is the internal resonance. The
image becomes an emotional equivalent:
abstract, symbolic, and deeply personal.