Guggenheim 92/Americans 63/Ford 15--Detroit 1955

This is Robert Frank’s “Guggenheim 92/Americans 63/Ford 15--Detroit,” a photographic work pieced together from film strips. The way the images are presented, with their sprockets and handwritten markings, it’s like he’s showing us his working process. Frank’s photos feel so raw, so unpolished. It's black and white, grainy, and these qualities become so expressive in his work. In the frame on the second row, you can see a Ford factory, all these machines and workers, documented in a way that feels immediate. The red X over the frame next to it is so intriguing, I wonder why he chose to omit it, and how that impacts the overall feeling of the work? It's like he's editing life itself, making choices about what to show and what to hide. Frank's work reminds me of the German photographer, August Sander, who also tried to capture a portrait of a society through photography. But where Sander feels more formal and detached, Frank is all about feeling, about capturing the pulse of America. In the end, it’s all about how we see, and what we choose to focus on.