Astor Place--Early New York City no number/Lines of My Hand 8 1949

Robert Frank's photostrip, *Astor Place--Early New York City no number/Lines of My Hand 8,* presents a sequence of grayscale frames capturing urban life. The materiality of the film itself, with its sprocket holes and frame numbers, becomes integral to the composition, layering the images with a sense of time and process. The high contrast and grainy texture evoke a raw, documentary feel, while the repetition of the Astor Place scene in each frame offers a structural meditation on place and perspective. Frank uses the photostrip format to dissect a moment, presenting multiple angles and slight variations that destabilize any singular, fixed view. The cross mark and 'missing' annotation introduce a sense of incompleteness, challenging the notion of a definitive representation. This work, through its form and content, engages with ideas of seriality, chance, and the subjective nature of seeing, reflecting broader artistic and philosophical concerns about the construction of reality.