Bridgeport, Connecticut 1941

Walker Evans made this gelatin silver print, Bridgeport, Connecticut. It’s a pretty classical composition, straight on, the way he frames these figures, but there’s also something very humane, even tender, in his depiction of everyday people and urban life. I can imagine Evans on the street, camera in hand, just waiting for the right moment, the right alignment of figures and light. The woman in the middle is holding her hat, it is an unconscious gesture. I keep looking at her, and the way she holds her arm. It reminds me of all the people I've seen on the streets of New York. Each of these people have their own story, but here they are frozen in time. We all have thoughts running through our heads, a whole inner life that’s invisible to others. I try to imagine what they are thinking about. The conversation between artists never ends; we're always in dialogue with the past, reinterpreting and reimagining what came before.