Nixon campaign 24 1960

Robert Frank's 'Nixon campaign 24', is an object made of 35mm film, a series of captured moments, little windows into a world, or rather, a campaign. Looking at this film strip, I think about how Frank must have worked, moving, choosing, framing— a process of selection. And I wonder, what was it like for him, shooting Nixon during his campaign? The greyscale palette gives everything a historical feel, a sense of distance, but the red and blue markings jolt us back into the present. There’s something about these markings – the circling and underlining – that feels so personal, like notations in a sketchbook. It’s the artist's hand, guiding our eye, pointing to what matters. This feels very much in line with other photographic work, a kind of organised chaos that reminds us how artists are in constant dialogue, building upon each other's experiments. It’s about feeling, seeing, and showing, not just telling.