Horse show opening no number 1954

This is a contact sheet from Robert Frank, a series of photographs documenting a horse show, and the world around it. I can imagine him, camera in hand, moving restlessly through the show, searching for something. I love how the film strip becomes a kind of map of his mind. You see, contact sheets are a way for photographers to see all their shots at once, a collection of outtakes and near misses. It's a space of trial and error, of intuition and chance, a bit like painting, where you might be trying to capture something elusive. What was he hoping to reveal? Frank's work, like that of other photographers such as Garry Winogrand, and Lisette Model, inspires me as a painter. It reminds me that the process of making art is as important as the final product, and it’s about embracing the messy, imperfect nature of life. Because, in the end, art making is about embracing the world, with all its beauty and ugliness, and finding a way to make sense of it all.