Florida 1 1958

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, Florida 1, at some point in his life – he was always making photographs. It's a contact sheet, which means he printed the negatives directly onto the paper without enlarging them. This gives it a raw, immediate feel, like a sketchbook page. I love how Frank embraced the gritty, imperfect nature of photography. He wasn’t trying to hide the process. You can see the edges of the film, the sprocket holes, even the grease pencil marks where he's cropped certain images. It’s like he’s saying, “Here’s the messy reality of how these images came to be.” That red grease pencil just screams process. It’s so direct and unapologetic. It reminds me of the way Cy Twombly would slash across his canvases, leaving these beautiful, unresolved gestures. Frank isn’t precious about his work. It's like he’s saying, “This is just one step in a longer conversation.” And isn’t that what art is all about?