34th Street, New York City 1947

Robert Frank made this photograph, ‘34th Street, New York City’, sometime in the middle of the last century. The high contrast is so striking, isn’t it? And there’s this single, stark white line cutting through the darkness of the street. You know, what gets me about this piece is the grittiness, the realness of it. The asphalt looks almost velvety, but you can feel the roughness, the wear of the city. Frank isn't smoothing things over; he's showing you the starkness of urban life. That white line isn’t perfect; it's got wiggles and breaks, just like life. I can almost feel myself walking in the city, the sun is beating down, there is exhaust in the air. It reminds me a bit of Walker Evans' work. Both of them had this way of capturing America without any sugar coating. And that line, it’s like a metaphor, right? Is it a path, a divide, or just something to keep us all in order?