Street scene--Chattanooga, Tennessee 1955

Editor: Robert Frank’s gelatin silver print, "Street scene—Chattanooga, Tennessee," from 1955... It has such a raw, documentary feel. It's gritty, not posed. What strikes you about it? Curator: The immediate impact is the stark materiality of the print itself. Consider the means of production: Frank, armed with his Leica, capturing a specific moment on film, a technology that democratized image-making. What labor went into this image? The development, the printing—are those processes visible in the final artifact? Editor: I hadn’t thought about that side of photography. Curator: Look at the overalls worn by the man front and center. What labor do those represent? What social class? Consider also the labor implicit in "street." The work, likely poorly compensated, to build roads and buildings depicted as a backdrop. Editor: So the photograph isn't just *of* something, but it *represents* production itself. I see that. What about the consumption implied in a 'street scene'? Curator: Absolutely. Frank captures a nexus of activity. Shops are shown at the streetfront, inviting citizens to spend their wages in shops made by those that wear clothes like the person in the foreground. What kind of narrative about consumerism and class division is this image constructing? And whose narrative gets prominence? Editor: I initially thought this photograph just depicted an ordinary street. But considering materials, process, and class it suddenly has layers. I’m viewing art as a story of people producing, working, consuming. Thank you. Curator: Indeed! And considering how technologies such as film democratize that production and consumption narrative.