Fishbowl--New York City no number 1954

This is a photographic contact sheet by Robert Frank, called "Fishbowl--New York City no number." Look at the frames, they show repeating images of dresses and fishbowls. I wonder, was Frank trying to say something about repetition and consumer culture? I can imagine Frank walking around New York, his camera in hand, trying to capture something real and raw. The contrast is striking. The dresses, pristine and lined up, versus the distorted reality within the fishbowls. It feels like he’s pointing to the way things are presented versus how they truly are, a theme he hits on a lot. Frank had a way of seeing the world that was both critical and deeply human. He wasn't just taking pictures, he was having a conversation with the world around him. And he’s inviting us to join in, to think about what we see, and how we see it.