Congressional P c. 1954 - 1955

This is Robert Frank's 'Congressional P', a photo made from film, and presented as a film strip. I love that we can see all the workings, the outtakes, the rejects. It’s like seeing all the sketches and false starts that lead to a final painting, but here, Frank lets it all hang out. The film strip format adds to the sense of time and movement. Each frame a moment, each strip a journey. The world framed by a train window. The grainy texture and monochrome palette give it a timeless quality, like a memory fading at the edges. Look at the frames with the red ‘X’ marks, where Frank has physically marked an image out. It’s a really physical, human act within the mechanical process of photography, but the rejected images are still there, part of the whole. Like Basquiat crossing out words, but you can still read them. Frank’s work, like that of his contemporary, Helen Levitt, embraced the beauty of the everyday, unpolished and raw. A reminder that art isn’t about perfection, it's about seeing, feeling, and showing up.