Valencia, Spain 34 1952

This is Robert Frank’s Valencia, Spain 34, a photographic contact sheet of gelatin silver prints. For Frank, photography was a process, not just the final image. You get the sense of the act of picture-taking itself, the quick succession of shots, and a perspective on his way of seeing. What gets me is the physicality of this piece, like it's not just about the images but also the material reality of filmmaking. The thin, translucent quality of the film, the way the light hits it...it's almost sculptural. I want to hone in on the way Frank has circled some of the frames in red. He is isolating them, drawing our attention, but why these ones? It’s a gesture of decision-making, an editing process. Frank’s work always reminds me a little of Garry Winogrand, they both have this raw, snapshot aesthetic. The thing is, art is always a conversation, right? Each piece builds on what came before, answering or questioning the artists and works of the past.