New York, 2006, at Broadway and John Street Possibly 2006 - 2014

Leo Rubinfien shot this photograph in 2006, at Broadway and John Street in New York. It’s a black and white image, a sea of faces pulled together by some unseen force. I wonder what it was like for Rubinfien to stand there, camera in hand, trying to capture a moment in the life of the city. Photography is a patient art; you have to wait for things to align. The woman in the center, her gaze fixed on something outside the frame, becomes a focal point, a kind of anchor amid the visual chaos. Her expression seems to suggest a mix of concern and curiosity, as if she’s trying to make sense of something just beyond her grasp. It’s like looking at a scene from Garry Winogrand or Robert Frank, these visual poets of the everyday. In many ways, artists are in an ongoing conversation with one another, each contributing a unique voice to the collective understanding of what it means to be human. What can we learn about this woman? What has she seen? Perhaps, we can all relate to her.