Girls playing with suitcase--Children 1941 - 1945

This photograph, *Girls Playing with Suitcase—Children*, was taken by Robert Frank, and it’s tiny, only a few inches square. It's a quiet scene. Two children are absorbed by the suitcase lock; this everyday object has become a source of intrigue. What are they thinking as their small hands manipulate the mechanism? The image, like much of Frank’s work, has a kind of raw intimacy, a feeling like you’ve stumbled on a private moment. There is an ambiguity to the narrative. The suitcase, with its promise of travel and adventure, is a prompt. I wonder if Frank considered the viewer when he took this shot. He might have been thinking of the potential for connection through shared human experience. In Frank's extended body of work, he was always having a conversation with his own ideas, as well as with the world around him. This photograph encapsulates a fleeting moment of childhood wonder, inviting us to consider our own memories and experiences.