Family--New York City no number 1954

Robert Frank made this photographic contact sheet, Family--New York City no number, in New York City. It's a tightly cropped series of frames showing intimate moments between people. I wonder, looking at this, what was it like for Frank to pick up his camera and capture these people. Was he invited? How did he frame them? Did he make a selection of images, and then how did he organize them? What story did he want to tell? For me, the contact sheet is more revealing than a single image. I can see the outtakes and the test shots. I can glimpse at how the artist found a way to tell a story. I can see how they built meaning through the process of making. Artists are always in conversation and exchange of ideas, and each one builds on the work of those who came before. This act of making allows for multiple interpretations, where meaning is never fixed.