Just 7 months ago my friend got a chance to visit me. He lives in different country and it was his first visit to the USA, his first time seeing New York. I took him to Manhattan, expecting to see his excitement about skyscrapers and city infrastructure in general. To my surprise he was more excited to see people. He said that he loves observing vibrancy in human appear. Probably for the same reason Walker Evans called his project āA Project for Loveā; he could document peopleās looks in confined space, capture their aspect under the same conditions (just like a scientific experiment subjects), and enjoy peculiarity of their expressions as much as conditions allowed. It is not surprising then that the approach to make such āinvestigationā should be disguised.
All of us have, to a certain degree, the same tendency, as Walker Evans had, to observe our fellow humans. Despite appear that we put on, we canāt completely hide ourselves under garments and accessories. Our expressions, especially under certain circumstances such as in the subway, do show that we are indeed humans, and not workers, actors, parents and rappers. Just like faces of people in Walkerās photographs, faces of people I meet in subway (70 years later) donāt indicate any difference. Despite outward appear we didnāt change inside.
