{"id":6967,"date":"2022-10-25T20:15:07","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T20:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/liberatinglens\/?page_id=6967"},"modified":"2022-12-11T20:47:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-11T20:47:42","slug":"seaman-ava-victoria","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/liberatinglens\/seaman-ava-victoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Seaman, Ava Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inspired by Robert Frank in Ann Arbor, MI<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Thesis & Background<\/h2>\n
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I\u2019ve chosen Robert Frank’s photobook The Americans<\/em>, which was published in the U.S. in 1959. The Americans<\/em> is a collection of black and white photographs from Frank\u2019s cross-country road trip in the 1950s. Frank photographs a post-war America, a diverse and complex place filled with injustice alongside beauty. To say that Frank\u2019s photographs of America changed documentary photography would be an understatement; they \u201ccaused nothing short of a revolution\u201d (Sidley, MoMA<\/a>). His photographs are undoubtedly iconic and still relevant in a country that remains politically divided<\/a> and struggles with racism<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank was born into a German-Jewish family in Zurich in 1924 and immigrated to the United States at 23 years old. His unique position as a Jewish immigrant in the United States made him an outsider looking in, which had a great effect on his photographs; he managed to capture the social, racial, religious, and geographic tensions between Americans. \u201c\u2018I think people like the book because it shows what people think about but don\u2019t discuss,\u2019\u201d Frank told the New York Times<\/em> (Dawidoff, NYT<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve also chosen to look at Frank\u2019s handcrafted<\/a> book from 1952, Black, White and Things<\/em>, which contains a variety of his photographs taken in Europe, South America, and the United States. These photographs are quiet and contemplative, and they depict peaceful situations, quite the contrast to The Americans.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love the look of black and white photographs; they are classic and timeless. Most of Frank\u2019s photographs don\u2019t explore the domestic sphere; he positions himself just outside of the home, which is something that caught my eye. The Americans<\/em> is at the same time familiar and foreign to me. After all, I\u2019m from a suburb of Detroit, and I\u2019ve been to about five other states besides my own. I haven’t seen all of America yet The Americans<\/em> helps me visualize it. The subjects in Black, White and Things<\/em> are even more foreign, in terms of the physical space they occupy, but spark my interest all the same. As an outsider, in both The Americans <\/em>and Black, White and Things, <\/em>Frank noticed things that others weren’t able to see \u2014 the beauty and the ugliness at the same time \u2014 and in my own photographs, I’d love to capture this dichotomy in Ann Arbor as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bar \u2014 New York City (Robert Frank, The Americans<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Table\/Mallorca, 1952 (Robert Frank, Black, White and Things<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Funeral\/Paris, 1951 (Robert Frank, Black, White and Things<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/div>

Methodology<\/h2>\n
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In his Guggenheim application talking about what the photographing of America entails, Robert Frank said, \u201cI speak of things that are there, anywhere and everywhere \u2014 easily found, not easily selected and interpreted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other photographers we\u2019ve looked at, like Weegee, Robert Frank did not stage his photographs. In The Americans<\/em>, he does not directly engage with his human subjects, taking a non-confrontational approach. His composition is notable \u2014 his photographs have grainy, high contrasts, are in black and white, and are sometimes blurry. The Americans<\/em> explores how people interact (or don\u2019t) in the spaces they occupy and the consequential social implications of their interactions as Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photographs I\u2019ve chosen from Frank don\u2019t necessarily focus on human subjects, but instead, focus on objects used by them. For the most part, there is stillness in the frames. One photograph I\u2019m particularly interested in is Frank\u2019s \u201cRooming House\u201d in Los Angeles. He\u2019s only photographed the exterior of the house, not the renters \u2014 a man is visible, but his face is not in frame. Similarly, although there are people, \u201cDrive-in movie\u201d in Detroit focuses on the cars and the big screen while \u201cBar\u201d in NYC focuses on the jukebox. Frank understood America’s obsession with cars and entertainment. I’d argue the same phenomenon occurs in the photographs I’ve chosen from Black, White and Things<\/em> \u2014 in “Table\/Mallorca” the absence of people is noticeable while “Chauffeur\/London” recognizes the person, a chauffeur, although the car is what our eye is drawn to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “Rooming House” particularly struck me, with its large wooden stairs and the detailed designs on the bannisters. However, it doesn\u2019t look like it\u2019s in the best shape. Why was Frank taken with this particular house? This photograph reminded me of the houses that are rented by college students in Ann Arbor. Most aren\u2019t beautiful but have an array of faded colors and mismatched shapes and sizes. I looked at the houses around my neighborhood in Ann Arbor, and while they did have some notable features, I wasn’t excited to photograph them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rooming house \u2014 Bunker Hill, Los Angeles (Robert Frank, The Americans<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Drive-in movie \u2014 Detroit (Robert Frank, The Americans<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chauffeur\/London, 1951 (Robert Frank, Black, White and Things<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I tried to take photographs that portray the spaces occupied by humans without intentionally capturing their physical presence, like houses, restaurants, or cars. At first, I was interested in the theme of unfamiliarity that Frank illuminates in his photographs from his unique position as an outsider. But I found myself straying away from these spaces and turned to what I encountered in my day to day life, like shops around downtown Ann Arbor and parks I run through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank once said, \u201cI was very free with the camera. I didn\u2019t think of what would be the correct thing to do; I did what I felt good doing. I was like an action painter\u201d (Gayford, Art News<\/a>). I wasn’t too strict with the photographs I took, however, I did put myself in a restrictive box thinking I only had to take one type of photograph with one subject. In the end, I found many subjects interesting and captured those. I was carefree yet intentional, pulling out my phone at random times when something caught my eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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