Nixon campaign 29 1960

This is Robert Frank’s ‘Nixon Campaign 29’, a black and white photograph contact sheet with red marker. What’s striking here is Frank’s process, laying bare the nuts and bolts of how images are made. It’s a refreshing reminder that even iconic photographs are often born from a series of choices and edits. The contact sheet is a collection of moments, a series of 'almosts' and 'maybes'. The red markings feel like a shout, a way of saying, "Look here! This matters!" But why these frames and not others? It’s like a treasure map where X marks the spot, but the mapmaker left the reasons cryptic. Frank’s work often reminds me of John Baldessari, who also played with images and text, questioning the meaning and context of photographs. Both artists invite us to look closer, to question what we see and how we see it. In the end, it's not just about the images, but the questions they provoke.