Paris 1A 1949 - 1950

Robert Frank's 'Paris 1A' presents a series of images developed on film, capturing scenes from Paris. The film itself is the artwork here. It gives us a peek into Frank’s process and way of seeing. The texture isn't just in the captured scenes, but also in the physical materiality of the film strip itself – the sprocket holes, the frame edges, the way the light interacts with the developed silver. Each frame contains such different light and shadow, there are so many different vignettes of a city. The numbers scribbled onto the film by hand draw attention to the artist’s process, the human element behind the images. You could say someone like Gerhard Richter, who also works with series and chance, exploring how images accumulate meaning over time, is a relative of Franks. Neither offers us a tidy narrative, but rather an invitation to participate in the act of seeing.