From the bus 15 1958

Curator: Here we have Robert Frank's "From the Bus 15," a gelatin silver print from 1958. I am struck by the rawness of it; the high contrast, the film strip presentation… It feels incomplete, a behind-the-scenes peek. Editor: Incomplete is a great way to describe the feeling evoked when gazing at this work, its very fragmentary nature is quite telling of the transient nature of social life in America, and it seems almost autobiographical with Frank capturing everyday life. It gives the feel of an immigrant's exploration of his newly adopted homeland. Curator: Intriguing perspective. Speaking purely formally, notice how the sequential frames present a visual rhythm? The shifts in perspective, high and low angles, and the almost staccato-like imagery create this visual composition of urban exploration. Editor: I agree, and I think we must not forget Frank's position as an outsider allowed him to capture candid moments of Americans, almost anthropological, especially if we remember this era, post-war but still dealing with segregation. Curator: Segregation, most definitely a critical undercurrent. What seems striking, on the level of sheer visual architecture is how the use of light creates geometric blocks with the use of the medium's monochrome qualities that punctuate the subject matter in these stills of an anonymous public. Editor: The abstraction you noted makes each image all the more potent, in this visual language each figure almost has its own stage or spotlight as if giving an isolated window into their individual experiences. The artist is thus elevating the uncelebrated everyday individual. Curator: Exactly, this allows one to delve into the many textures presented. Notice, that each grain in each frame acts as a puzzle that our eye seeks to complete; an array of emotions encapsulated into one. Editor: Ultimately it is about memory; how incomplete memories can tell a story and represent entire populations that exist in their respective, yet communal, space. It shows how the role of memory and lived experience can reveal our deeper socio-political reality.