Gérmenes? ¿Qué gérmenes?

Se ha inaugurado una exposición de fotografías históricas en Nueva Zelanda algo así como un esfuerzo de investigación to identify the subject of one of the show's many compelling images: a young girl, apparently seeing an escalator for the first time, captured on film licking the moving stairs' handrail. The 1970 photo was taken by noted photographer Max Oettli, a Swiss-born longtime resident of New Zealand whose iconic images are part of a show called "The New Photography — Life in the '60s and '70s" on display through October 13 at Wellington's Museo Te Papa. Athol McCredie, curador del museo, dijo al NZ Herald that Oettli captured the image inside a department store that had new escalators. "To a child who had never seen an escalator before, this belt (handrail) might have looked like a giant licorice strap," McCreadie said.

Then again, who knows what goes through the mind of child? If she comes forward, maybe we'll find out.