Guggenheim 668--Reno, Nevada 1956

This photographic filmstrip was made by Robert Frank; it’s called "Guggenheim 668--Reno, Nevada". Frank’s mark-making here is like a seismograph of lived experience, a raw and unfiltered process. The materiality of this filmstrip—its grainy texture, the stark contrast between light and shadow—really grabs you. It’s almost like he’s peeling back the glossy veneer of American life to reveal the grit beneath. Look at the way he frames these figures. They look so transient. There's a shot in the lower right corner of a couple sitting on a bench, encircled by a red marker. That enclosure, that feeling of being boxed in, is the key to the whole piece: a snapshot of loneliness amid a sea of faces. Frank's work reminds me of Nan Goldin's in its unflinching portrayal of human vulnerability. Like her, he embraces the messy, the imperfect, and the unresolved. That's what makes his photographs so compelling.