Afterimage by Nina Strand:

Ruth Orkin, *American Girl in Italy, Florence,* 1951.

I find a seat on the terrace of a small café in the garden and take my notebook and pencil out of my bag. The photograph American girl in Italy is on my mind. While many have described the image as a symbol of sexual harassment, the woman depicted told a journalist that it represented female empowerment. She owns the situation, she claimed. Still, for many, the photo serves as a stark example of how risky it can be for a woman out in the world.

I remember arguing about this image on a date. I tried to explain how merely walking down a street could be a challenge for women. My date claimed the woman in the photograph had said it was wonderful, that she was young, carefree, and the world was her oyster. He laughed when I said that maybe she just didn’t want to go into the complexities of the situation with the journalist. That perhaps she was tired of discussing street harassment or being the example of it in this picture. I became angry, asking him how he could argue with me as a member of the opposite sex. The evening did not go well.

On the table next to me sits a couple who are either on their first or last date. He has put on enough aftershave to last him through the day, if not the week. There's a certain nervous energy in the air between them that makes me curious, but I shouldn't be eavesdropping on their conversation. I should be working. I really want to create a project that will change the way women of my age are represented in our society, but when the waiter finally comes to take my lunch order, all I've done is draw a circle and write the words New Narratives in it.

Afterimage is an ekphrastic series about that one image you see when you close your eyes, the one still lingering in your mind. We invite artists and writers to reflect on an image they can't shake. This column has been a part of Objektiv since our very first issue, originally titled Sinnbilde in Norwegian. As the sea of images continues to swell, the series explores which visuals linger and take root in today's endless stream—much like a song that plays on repeat in your head. Whether it's an image glimpsed on a billboard, a portrait in a newspaper, a family photo from an album or an Instagram reel, we're interested in those fleeting moments that stay with you and refuse to let go.