ABOUT OUR PROJECT

We’re Jess and Elena and we’re two students at Washington and Lee University and we love photography (we’re obsessed actually). This project started with Robert Frank’s The Americans. After discovering his project, we fell in love.

So we decided to hit the road! We wanted to see what became of the places that Frank saw nearly 70 years ago. Starting in our home state of Pennsylvania, we hop on Frank’s route in New York City. We pulled all the locations of his photos from his book and from the National Gallery of Art’s map of the route. From there, we loop up and across New York state and begin the trek across the country. The hope is to complete the circle and come home by the end of July. 

Frank was a Swiss photographer shooting America in the 1950s exposing the America that can only be seen through the eyes of an immigrant. His project revealed America at its core: from Hollywood and New York City, to the open highways of Nebraska and New Mexico, to finally zig-zagging through the South from Texas to Georgia. 

Throughout this month, we hope to witness the essence of the country during a time of turmoil; from the political unrest of the past several years to the beginnings of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope to see just a sliver of what he saw, and use his route to make our own way through the country.

We’re super excited to be doing this project, so if you’re interested follow the blog and see where we go!