Back lot--Hollywood 39 1958

Robert Frank made this contact sheet, "Back lot--Hollywood 39," with silver and gelatin. These images are like pages torn from a visual diary. Frank shows us the whole process, with the negative strips giving us a behind-the-scenes look at his editing choices. The marks and notes around each frame feel like a conversation he’s having with himself. Look at the repetition, the slight shifts in perspective, the way he circles a particular image in red—it's all about seeing, selecting, and making meaning. It's reminiscent of Ed Ruscha, or maybe even Andy Warhol, playing with seriality. It makes you think about the fragile nature of image-making and our fleeting perception of reality. Each frame is a new possibility.