11th Street story 44/People You Don't See 9 1951

Robert Frank made '11th Street story 44/People You Don't See 9' out of gelatin silver prints, to create a kind of storyboard of everyday life. What strikes me is how Frank isn't trying to conceal the process of making the image; it's all there for us to see. The film strips are collaged onto the backing board, and there’s even a big ‘44’ scrawled on there, like a page number from a notebook. It feels so immediate, like we’re getting a peek into his working process, his way of seeing. I love that. Look at the dark circle he’s drawn around one of the frames, maybe a key moment? It's casual but it speaks volumes, like a quick annotation in the margin of a book. It makes me think of other artists who embraced the raw, unfiltered view of life, like Nan Goldin, who captured these very intimate moments of life. It’s this kind of honesty that really stays with you, you know?