New York City S1 1958

This is Robert Frank’s ‘New York City S1’, a photo-contact sheet, a whole world in monochrome. What grabs me first is the texture – gritty, grainy, like a memory half-forgotten. You see the artist’s process laid bare. There's no hiding. It's like looking at his brain. It’s honest. There is a frame, two rows from the bottom, where the word ‘PRESS’ is repeated across maybe four frames. It's a throwaway image, maybe, but it strikes me how this word is made up of almost identical shapes, like a serial image by Warhol. Looking at this contact sheet, I’m reminded of Garry Winogrand, and his street photography. Both artists seem to embrace the chaos of the everyday. There’s no perfect image, just fragments, a series of attempts. That’s what art is, really, a process of seeing and trying. It’s not about answers, but questions.